


Book One: Tyria's Real!

by Tiffany_Smithi



Series: The Tassof Series [1]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Dimension Travel (earth to Tyria), Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-10-30 20:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 61,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17835530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiffany_Smithi/pseuds/Tiffany_Smithi
Summary: Book One of the Tassof Series. Me and my sister are transported into Tyria. The fact that we are, in fact, quite actually in Tyria, is mind-blowing. (Not literally, as Tiffany will hasten to tell you if the subject is brought up.) We explore southwestern Kryta, fighting bandits and centaurs and helping people, and do our best to influence Logan Thackeray's view of Destiny's Edge and it's future. New friends are made, captured, and saved, and our history explored - the fates of our sister and our biological parents are discovered. This WILL diverge from the original storyline... eventually. Meanwhile, there's a ton of non-canon stuff going on to be interesting, not to mention changes that will influence the future. NO pairings (except canon ones, and those are just assumed, not described). Originally posted on fanfiction.net under the pen name Tiffany Smithi.





	1. Lending a Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This story is about what if me (Tiffany) and my sister (Fiona) got pulled into GW2 somehow. The method I chose, a glowing map, might not be the best... and I doubt you can actually get the map described in the story... anyway, me and my sister get sucked into Tyria, where everything is no longer a game, it's real. Like, don't click a button to shoot, actually do it - aim, pull the string, etc. Muscle memory is good, though, for starting weapons, so yay. Anyway, that's what this is about...enjoy.  
>  _**Okay, here’s the story now:**_

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me and my sister have been transported into Tyria. Yep. Me and my sis now live in Tyria. Un-believable! It doesn't happen to country girls like me and Fiona. It just doesn't. But, it turns out, it's not so good - or maybe it's better. Remember those things called NPCs? They don't exist. But, it's not just me and Fiona, either. NPCs, like Destiny's Edge and even villagers do exist, but they are alive. They aren't computers. Oh dear. What if I insult one of them? What if Destiny's Edge never reforms? What if we never kill Zhaitan?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two coming! I really need some feedback, guys, and today I have a special request - do you want me to do all the 'hearts', or just skip most of them? I made the first two very interesting, and I know it would be interesting to read, but the content - the actual heart - is not different, and after the first couple there won't be much dialog between us, and the dialog between us and the 'heart person' is pretty much standard, and uninteresting. So, feedback, guys!  
>  _**Okay, here's the story now!**_

"You're fine. Captain Thackeray always worries too much about... well, about anyone," the healer tells Tiffany. "You have some bruises and a couple nasty cuts, but other than that you're fine."  
"Thanks, what about Fiona?"  
"Logan Thackeray seemed to think she was rather seriously wounded, but she hasn't got a scratch on her."  
"I'm a mesmer, of course he would've thought I was wounded." Fiona says.  
"That explains it. Well, go kill some centaurs. I've never known city girls who could survive a fight like that and not get hurt."  
"That's because we are us, and not anybody you've known," Tiffany smiles. "Come on, Fiona!"

* * *

"Where are you going?" Ayla asked Tiffany.  
"When the centaurs attacked, the whole town was shaken up, even though you had the Seraph here helping. What do you think happened to all the farms all over Queensdale, that didn't have Seraph protection, not even friends and neighbors close by? We're going to make sure they're all okay. You can come with us, if your parents say you can." Tiffany replies. "Want to go ask?"  
Then Mat hurried up. "Mom says we can, as long as we're with you."  
"Great! Let's get going."  
"We're ready, Fiona. Let's go!"  
"Whoa - Tiff, you're sure about bringing them? It could be dangerous!" Fiona says.  
"We'll be fine. **We never died until we were done with the ten quest, when it was not realy. And that was only when we were being rash. We can manage.** "  
" **Fine**." Fiona replies shortly, after a moment.  
"What were you saying?"  
"We were talking in another language, Ayla. For private, grown-up things," Tiffany tells the girl.  
"Ohh. Can you teach us?"  
"It's very, very hard to learn. And me and Fiona like having another language for private things. But don't tell anyone, okay? It's our little secret."  
"Okay!"  
They walked for a minute in silence.  
" **Go on, Fiona. Rules.** " Tiffany grumbles.  
"Okay, Ayla, Mat, there are going to be some rules if you're coming with us, okay?"  
"What sort of rules?"  
"Well, for one thing, you cannot go running off, especially if you can't see or hear us. If you did, and you got hurt, you wouldn't be able to call us to come help. Or if we were getting ready to go back, we wouldn't be able to call you. Okay?"  
"Okay!"  
" **Tiffany, do you have any more of those knives?** "  
" **Plenty**." Tiffany replies warily.  
"I want you each to take a knife from Tiffany, in case we get attacked. She can show you how to use it properly."  
Tiffany stares at Fiona in shocked surprise for a moment. " **No. Fiona. We are not teaching them that! They are - they are Eden and Nate's ages!** " she protests.  
" **They need to be able to defend themselves! They want to help!** " Fiona retorts.  
" **They can help other ways. I am not teaching them to use knives for killing. Got it?** " Tiffany glares at Fiona.  
" **Fine, fine!** "  
"So, is that a yes or a no?" Mat asks hopefully.  
"It's a no. I'm sorry, Mat, but I'm not going to teach little kids your age to handle the big knives. What if you accidentally hurt yourself? What if you accidentally hurt someone else?"  
"But I saw you fighting the centaurs in the street before you went to help Captain Thackeray, and it was so cool! I want to do that!"  
"Even if I was going to teach you how to handle a knife like that, it would take many years for you, or anyone, to get that level of skill. Not to mention, if you did learn it, you might be expected to join the Seraph."  
"Joining the Seraph would be so cool!" Mat says breathlessly.  
"No, it would not be cool. There is more than just centaurs threatening Kryta. There are bandits - human bad guys - that you would be expected to defend against, perhaps kill. I know the first time I killed someone - it was horrible. I was... useless for weeks. I sat around the house doing nothing. If I did do something, I just did it automatically."  
"Really? From killing a bandit?"  
"...yes." Tiffany winces at calling Trahearne a bandit, but that would just raise questions. "I couldn't stomach the thought that I had killed. A living soul. You can't imagine the feeling. But once you've done it, and you realize what you've done, you would wish you'd never been born." Tiffany looses herself in thought for a moment, before a question from Ayla pulls her out.  
"Did Fiona ever do it?"  
"She's killed the same sorts of things I have." Tiffany replies evasively. No, Fiona never played the ending to Heart of Thorns.  
"So, that's a no to learning how to use knives?"  
"A definite no."  
The conversation took a lot shorter time than it takes to tell, but they still only stop talking in time for a farm to come into view. There is a woman standing by the gate, wiping her forehead with a handkerchief.  
"Need any help?" Tiffany asks her. "After the centaur attack, me and my friends want to make sure the people of Shaemoor are okay."  
"Oh, there's lots of stuff to do, and no time to do it in. The corn is dying, wurms keep popping up all over the field, and the cows aren't happy. They don't produce as much milk when they're not happy. And the bandits keep attacking. I don't even know why!" she replies distractedly.  
"Don't worry, we came to help. Your farm will be up and running in no time." Fiona smiles warmly.  
"How can I help?" Ayla asks timidly.  
"You can help make the cows happy!" Fiona replies.  
"But they're so big!"  
"Look, it's easy. I'll show you." Fiona tells her. "You just have to rub it's head and maybe give it some hay. See? Now it's all happy, and it likes me now."  
"You sure they won't hurt me?"  
"Oh, no. Especially not if you make it happy, because if it's happy it won't want to hurt you."  
"Can I try?" Mat asks.  
"How about you help me water the corn?" Tiffany says. "Are you strong enough to lift the water bucket?"  
"Oh, plenty strong enough!" Mat says boastfully.  
"Good. Come, I'll show you how."  
A bit later, Tiffany hears the oh-so-familiar sound of not-so-sneaky bandits. "Stay here, Mat," she whispers, and darts around the corner of the house to deal with the bandits.  
Immediately the bandits start laughing.  
"You're kidding, right?" one of them asks after a moment.  
"About what?" Tiffany asks innocently. Fiona, alerted by the familiar phrase from the bandits, ran over, only to pause in the shadow of the house to survey the situation.  
"The old lady's got a city girly defending her farm now! How much are you being paid to come all the way out here, miss?"  
"Nothing. And I'll thank you to not underestimate me," Tiffany says. She crosses her arms, secretly gripping her knives under her sleeves.  
"Underestimate a city girl? That's a good one!" the bandit laughs again.  
"You mean me?" Tiffany says in mock surprise. "I told you not to call me a city girl, but you did it anyway. It appears that I will have to... teach you a lesson!" her voice gets harsher at the end, and she whips out her knives.  
THUD. The bandit who'd been taunting her is flat on his back on the ground. Tiffany had hit him over the heart with the handle of a thrown knife.  
"Think I can't get you with the other end?" she asks, twirling the other knife absentmindedly in her off hand. "Or one of you?" she turns her gaze sharply to the other of the four in front of her.  
"W-we outnumber you!" another bandit stutters.  
"Do you?" Fiona pops up by Tiffany's side, along with three or four others.  
"Whoa!" another bandit cries. The one fallen scrambles up and they run away. Tiffany picks up her knife and the illusions of Fiona disappear.  
"That was one of our better acts," Tiffany says to Fiona.  
"Only in comparison to the first time we did it," Fiona snorts. Wait, they'd done this before?  
"That was so cool! Mat says breathlessly when Tiffany returns to him.  
"Oh, you saw that, did you?"  
"How'd you do it?" Mat asks.  
"I pretended. I didn't say anything bad, did I?"  
"No, but how did you do that? It was so cool!"  
"I simply put to good use what I knew of bandits. One, they like stealing things. Two, they like breaking the law. Third, they are not very smart at all. Fourth, they are all stinking cowards." Tiffany says pleasantly. "Once they saw what a good aim I was, and I had several people on my side, they were scared so bad they ran. If they had any brains, they'd know it was probably just illusions. They'll be back, if they're not too cowardly to admit defeat at the hands of a 'city girl' to their friends. I don't think so."  
She got up and approaches the farmer. "I think I solved your bandit problem, miss. They won't return. If they do, look me up and I'll deal with them."  
"Thank you so much!" the woman says. "They were half the problem, distracting me too much to get any work done, and then the centaurs... oh, I never introduced myself, did I? I'm Diah."  
"The centuars was a one-time thing, I promise you, ma'am. I'm making it my job to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm Tiffany, and this is my sister Fiona. These are our friends, Ayla and Mat. Do you know of any other people who might need help?" she asks, as Fiona walks up with Ayla.  
"Oh, I know Travis, the fisherman up the river a ways needs some help. He had it hard even before the centaurs came. And then Cassie has a moa ranch to the west, and it's just outside the bandits' cave, I know she's always complaining about them. Cassie and Travis might know more. Thanks again for your help!"  
"Thanks for the information, Diah." Tiffany says, shaking her hand. "Come on, Mat, Ayla."  
Diah waves as the foursome walk off.  
"Let's go help out that fisherman guy!" Mat says excitedly.  
"Yeah, come on!" Ayla agrees.  
Tiffany and Fiona smile and let the children run ahead alongside the river.  
"That went well, don't you think?" Tiffany asks Fiona.  
"Oh, very well. If we can do the same thing everywhere - especially the bandit problem - Shaemoor and all of Queensdale will be the better for it. I'm just glad it affects anything now, instead of being a mission you complete for XP before moving on to the next one. And, we should always use Shilgni when we talk about things when referring to Tyria as a game, or knowledge that we shouldn't have."  
"Yeah, that was a good idea. And for grown-up talks around children."  
"Tiffany! Fiona! There's a guy over that hill there!" Ayla says as she runs up to them, panting.  
"Well, it's a good idea we came here first, you need to cool off in that river." Tiffany observes.  
"Like, for swimming?" Mat says excitedly. "We haven't been swimming in ages!"  
"Yes, for swimming. But you can't go in the deep parts, you might drown." Tiffany warns.  
"We'll stay in the shallow parts, promise!" Ayla says. "Let's go in! Come on, come on!"  
"I'll talk to Travis and find out what needs to be done, you watch the children," Fiona tells Tiffany.  
"Got it," Tiffany gives Fiona the thumbs-up and goes after Ayla and Mat.  
"Hey, you two!" Tiffany says. "I have a fun game to play! It's called... Splash Time!" she flings a handful of water at Ayla.  
Ayla shrieks and dodges, while Mat returns the splash.  
After a bit, Fiona returns from talking to Travis. "He says that the traps sometimes catch hostile creatures that harm him, and make it hard for him to work. If we can clear that out, that'd be great. Drakes are also a problem, because he can't catch any crawfish with the drakes eating them all. So, crushing drake eggs and stuff would help. The skale do the same thing, and they're a lot tougher and harder to drive off."  
"You want to help break some eggs, Ayla?" Tiffany asks.  
"That'd be fun!"  
"You can help me with those traps, Mat." Fiona tells him.  
"So, Ayla, where do you think a drake would lay it's eggs?"  
"I saw a cave on the other side of the river as we came along it," Ayla says. "I don't remember seeing any drakes, but it sure looked like a den."  
"Let's go there, then! Ooh, and see all those traps? Mat and Fiona'll have a tough job."

* * *

As Tiffany and Ayla walk along the river, they chat a bit.  
"So, Ayla, how old are you?"  
"I'm going to five in the middle of the Scion season," Ayla replies. "What about you?"  
"My birthday is near the beginning of the Colossus season," Tiffany replies slowly, remembering surprisingly easily how the Tyrian calendar is formulated. "That's a long way for both of us. Do you know what season it is now?"  
"I only know because Mom was telling one of her friends that the centaurs attacked when we were all off guard, because the start of the Zephyr celebration."  
"That's nice."  
"Here we are! Oh, look, it's a big drake, how are we going to smash the eggs now?"  
"Do you want to see something cool?" Tiffany whispers. "I'm going to shoot it with my bow. Won't that be fun to see?"  
"Will it die?"  
"Yes, but if it didn't it would hurt Travis back there."  
"Ooh, like the rats in our house?"  
"Yes. We need to kill the drake like the rats."  
"Let's do it!" Ayla whispers fiercely. "Rats are mean."  
"Here, hold these arrows, point down for me. They'll be easier to draw that way," Tiffany says as she nocks one and aims it carefully between the drake's eyes. She pulls back on the string slowly, before releasing it with a sudden twang. Ayla flinches at the sudden sound, but the arrow whistles through the air towards the drake, who turns its head ever so slightly, and the arrow embeds itself deep inside the creature's eye. It collapses, twitching for a moment. Tiffany approaches the drake slowly, and when she gets to it, she stabs the drake through the heart with a knife to make sure it is dead. She nods in satisfaction.  
"Is that the only drake?" Ayla asks from where she was standing.  
"Yes. The others are all off doing something else, I suppose."  
"Here's your arrows. They're so odd. Why are there feathers in this end?"  
"They make sure the arrow goes straight. Ooh, and Ayla, when you smash the eggs, bring me some of the bits and pieces. I can make sharper arrows with those, or at least sell them. You can have some, too, if you like, for a trophy."  
"Cool!"  
"Let's go egg-smashing!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Fiona is opening traps with Mat.  
"Mat, this one's sticking," she says, tugging on the grated opening. "Can you try?"  
"Sure," Mat says cheerfully. "Got it!" he says, as the door pops open. "Yikes! What's that?"  
"That's a drake hatchling, and now we need to kill it."  
"Why? Can't we just let it out?"  
"If we don't, fisherman Travis will have to deal with it. Or, it'll plug up his traps again. Here's how we do it - we stand back here, and I'll make the drake think that there's another me standing there for him to attack. See?"  
She creates an illusion of herself by the trap, which the drake had just struggled out of. It instantly pounces on the illusion of Fiona, which acts just like the actual Fiona. Then, she creates a clone of Mat that is holding a stick and beating the drake over the head with it from behind.  
"Whoa! Is that me?"  
"It sure looks like it, doesn't it?" Fiona smiles at him.  
All of a sudden, both illusions shatter, one after the other, with a small explosion. The last finishes the drake.  
"Whoa! That is so cool!" Mat says.  
"Next one!" Fiona agrees.  
As they work, they chatter happily together.  
"How do you know all this cool stuff? I thought you lived in the city before you came to Shaemoor?" Mat asked.  
Fiona sighs thoughtfully, wondering how they _do_ know. Suddenly, she remembers. It's a memory, but she knows she never did this. It must be a supplementary memory - her character can't have just appeared out of thin air, and it had to have a history and memories. They seem like her, though; what she would do and stuff in the situations her new memories show as being in. "Well, in school we studied this sort of thing. And we were lucky enough to have one of those big ol' asura gates in the neighborhood, which led to Ebonhawke. Back before Queen Jennah started trying to do the peace treaty. We did that a lot, and the soldiers there were always fighting the charr, which we helped with a bit. It was like a field trip, or going camping, doing everything ourselves and figuring out how to defend ourselves from hostiles. So we learned a lot. And, after experiencing the hardships of how hard it was to do things, we could appreciate how much the people there needed help, too. So, yes, we did live in the city, but we visited Ebonhawke. And guess what? It's right next to the Dragonbrand that Kralkatorrik left when he flew to the Crystal desert, oh, maybe five years ago. We got to see it, and it looked so cool. It was an... interesting experience, to say the least. We were attacked by Branded."  
"You saw the Dragonbrand?" Mat asked in awe. "You can't be much older than my mother!"  
"Me and Tiffany are twenty-four," Fiona tells him. "How old are you?"  
"I'll be six somtime in Phoenix season," he says. "It'll be so cool. When's your birthday?"  
"Me and Tiffany were born near the beginning of the Colossus season," Fiona says. "I think that's all the traps."  
"Oh, look! A drake nest!" Mat says.  
"Let's wait for Tiffany and Ayla and do it all together, okay?"  
"Cool. Let's go back where they were."

* * *

"We found another drake nest for you," Mat says.  
"Well, there's plenty of traps up that way, too!" Ayla informs him.  
"Let's switch! Me and Mat'll get the nest, and you and Ayla can get the traps." Fiona suggests.  
"Sounds like fun!" Tiffany agrees.

* * *

Later, after everyone had helped clear the river of drakes and skale, Fiona approaches Travis again.  
"The river is clear, and so are your traps." she says. "Anything else you need help with?"  
"Naw, not really." Travis scratches his head. "But I think Flannum, across the river there, needs help with that dam. He's the foreman of a crew, and it's rather a large crew, too, but the harpies like attacking, and the elementals over there are a nusiance. They generally don't attack if you don't bother them, but they get in the way alot, and sometimes they cross the stream here. It's a nice view from on top of those pilings, too. I think Eda, the farmer west of here, needs help, too. The spiders in her orchard interfered with her harvest last year."  
"Thanks for the information. We'll try to help them." Fiona says.  
But Tiffany is looking west. "Not today, Fiona, I don't think. We need to get home before sundown, or Mat and Ayla's parents will worry."  
"Oh, you're right. We can do that tomorrow, then. Come on Ayla, Mat."  
"Thanks again for the help!" Travis waves.  
"No problem!" Tiffany responds, before being pulled away by Ayla.  
"Nice catch, Tiffany, about the sun. **We never had to worry about that, bofere. Before.** "  
" **You are funny. Haven't we learned how to say 'before' in Shilgni well enough yet?** "  
" **No, you've always been ahead of me,** " Fiona scolds. " **I'm kinda still learning.** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how'd you like it? Again, feedback, please! I want to know should I show them doing all the hearts? If you want the dialog between us and the 'heart person', I can say " 'blah blah blah' and then, when they were done helping out, 'blah blah blah' " or somthing similar.  
> The talk in bold is our secret language, referenced in the last chapter - Shilgni - which we are actually quite good at.  
> My sister actually did want me to teach them to use knives, but the children are four and six. Four and six, and learning how to kill things? Really. But, I did prepare Mat and Ayla for things dying with the drakes. It needed to get done before we encountered bandits at Cassie's moa ranch. I coulda done it at Eda's orchard, because, you know, spiders, but killing things is a major part of everything, and it was simply good luck that we didn't need to kill anything at Diah's farm.  
> You do know I'm using the guild wars 2 wiki for all the details, right? I couldn't ever write this fanfic without it.  
> One thing that bugs me about Guild Wars - or Anet, whichever - is that they are bad with time. Sure, they have 'this happened this year, and this happened that year,' but they don't have, for example, how much time between level ten quest and level twenty. Or twenty and thirty. Or how long each quest takes - level thirty could take a few days.  
> If you are somebody who does not play a human, and wants to know what being a human is like, questwise, you'll be disappointed. Me and Fiona didn't change much with the tutorial - how much is there to change, anyway? - but we're gonna really rough stuff up from level ten onwards. And, I'm gonna start changing things in subplots - I'm really bad at subplots, normally, but when you start at the beginning, and you know what would have happened, you can be really cunning. My character has essentially time-traveled, she knows what's gonna happen years in advance. And cause and effect.  
> If you like, check out my fanfiction.net profile (Tiffany Smithi) for my long-lasting rambles about how Anet is weird. (I'll make my AO3 profile match it soon, but that'll take forever.)  
> I also have my in-game account name on there somewhere, if you like my story maybe we could meet in-game and become friends! I'm Tiffany Solestrider. Careful not to approach Catava S, though - she's my sister (on my account, yeah) and doesn't know nearly as much about Tyria as I'm portraying her here! It's me that has this information that Fiona has, dispensing it through different means. Ebonhawke, known to all Vigil recruits! Only, she hasn't ever played the Vigil... lol.


	2. Spiders and Apple Pies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the centaur assault on Shaemoor, lots of people need help. Regular nuisances didn't dry up just because of the centaurs. Tiffany and Fiona's friends, Mat and Ayla, come along for the ride, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things in _italics_ are thoughts of one person or other, as oppose to things in "quotes" which are people talking.

"Are you coming with us today, you two?" Fiona asks Mat and Ayla.

"You bet!" Mat says happily. "It's fun helping out!"

"Cool. We'll go back to the river today, and help out Foreman Flannum by the dam." Tiffany says.

"I heard that it's  _always_  leaky," Ayla says knowledgeably.

"Really? We'll have to stop that, then. Leaky dams are dangerous."

"Let's get going, then!"

When they arrive at the dam by the river, Fiona goes to talk to Foreman Flannum, while Tiffany shows Ayla and Mat the lovely view of the surrounding countryside from high up on the edge of the Divinity Dam.

Fiona joins them, hopping deftly from one beam to another to get to them.

"How'd you get them up here?" Fiona asks. "I doubt they can jump that far."

"I carried them," Tiffany smirks. "What? They're very light, even for kids their age.  **No heavier than Vinn, anyway**."

" **Vinn is very heavy...** "

" **Oh, I know, but they don't just hang there like Vinn does.** "

" **Right** ," Fiona replies, nodding. "How's the view?" she asks Mat.

"It's so cool! I can see all the way to the lady's orchard we're going to help later!"

"Wow, we can!" Fiona marvels. "That's so cool, isn't it? There are a couple of other places like this in Shaemoor, you know. We can take you to all of them."

"Please do!" Mat says.

"We will. Now, Flannum needs help plugging leaks and defeating elementals. The leaks are small right now, but they'll get bigger. Also, the harpies attack occasionally, and we can't scare them off like we did the bandits. If we don't kill all the earth elementals, they'll come together and make a giant one. Not nearly as bad as the one at the garrison the other day, but still pretty bad."

"Wow. Let's get that taken care of," Tiffany says. She prepares to jump off the narrow platform, high above the ground.

" **Tiffany, no**!" Fiona says quickly. " **This is real life now! You don't have a glider yet!"**

"Oh...  **right**.  **Thanks, Fiona.**  I... **completely forgot**."

" **No problem. Just don't die on me. I don't know nearly enough stuff to do anything... I would probably be a normal person in... Divinity's... Reach."**

" **I wouldn't die. I would just be hurt.** "

" **Whatever**!" Fiona retorts. " **It still counts**."

" **Okay, okay, okay**. Let's go. Come on, Ayla, Mat. Let's plug some leaks!"

Mat and Ayla look at each other and shrug.

"You want to carry Ayla, Fiona? Mat's heavier."

"Sure. Wow, she is light!"

"I know! Come on."

Later, as Fiona and Mat are patching up some leaks while Tiffany and Ayla scatter elementals, one of the workers goes running past in the direction of the foreman.

"Harpies! Harpies inbound!" he is shouting. Tiffany and Fiona look at each other.

"Can we come?" Mat asks immediately.

"No." Tiffany says firmly. "Harpies are very vicous. They would carry you away and keep you prisoner, maybe even eat you sometime. And they'd screech in your face the whole time."

"If we leave them alone, the same thing will happen." Fiona warns.

"You fight the harpies, there's more of you than of me. Me and the children can plug more leaks and things, or go across the river and watch the fight."

"Good thinking." Fiona mock-salutes and runs in the direction the worker had come from, pulling up clones as she goes.

As she encounters harpies, she leaves clones to deal with them, until she comes upon a group of them. She throws an illusionary sword that bounces between all three, creating a clone near the first one. She throws another one that didn't do much for her situation, but creates a phantasm by her side. Then, she runs up in the midst of the group and shatters her illusions. It didn't do much, since she hadn't summoned too many this fight, but the clones she'd left fighting other harpies exploded, and the effect copies by Fiona, taking out the harpies.

Fighting the rest of the harpies was largely the same, the only damage sustained being on the part of harpies and/or her illusions. The harpies quickly fled, terrified.

"Got em, Fiona?" Tiffany asked.

"Oh yes. If only harpies had enough sense to stop after a crushing defeat like that, we'd be golden. But either they don't, or they don't teach their offspring well enough. It's always the young ones that attack."

"Right. We've got the leaks plugged, but I didn't want to try taking on the elementals while watching both of the children."

"You did it with me, earlier." Ayla accuses.

"I know I did. But now I have both of you, and you're harder to watch both at a time."

"That dam looks so cool." Mat says, looking up at the towering wall.

"I know."

"Ayla, stay back from the edge there. It's really deep at this end." Fiona tells Ayla.

Ayla backs up from the edge. "Is it deep?"

"Oh yes, very." Tiffany replies. "Watch!" she runs into the water and ducks under the surface.

"Tiffany!" Mat cries. "Is she alright?" he asks Fiona.

"She's fine, Mat. She knows how to swim underwater."

"That's so cool."

"See how deep it is?" Tiffany says, coming up. " **And, Fiona, we need to get under-water weapons**."

"... **when**?"

" **Sometime. Just saying**." Tiffany replies with a shrug. "I could go very far down. It took all that time for me to go to the bottom and come back up again. It's already deep for being deeper than I am tall, see? Mat, it'd be several feet over your head even if the tippy-top of my head was dry."

"Wow." Mat says. "And it'd be even worse on Ayla."

"Of course it would. Now - oh  _really_?"

A gigantic earth elemental had exploded out of the ground a few feet away. It isn't equal by any means to the one they'd fought a few days ago, but it is still a threat to the dam.

"Mat, Ayla - run back to the shallow part in the river, you'll be safe there. Go to the other side if you must, earth elementals don't like water."

"Will you be okay?" Mat asks.

"We'll be fine, Mat, just go! Fiona, hand me one of those illusionary greatswords you got."

"You can use that?"

"It's a greatsword, of course I can!"

"Here!"

Tiffany takes the sword and vaults up onto the elemental's shoulders, and starts trying to hack it's arms off. She would have used her knives, but that would get them meaninglessly dull without doing anything.

Meanwhile, Beorn is distracting the lesser elementals the giant one keeps summoning, along with Fiona's clones.

"We're gonna be at this dam all day if this keeps up!" Tiffany groans. "Or at least long enough to not get anywhere but Eda's farm over the river."

"We only helped two people yesterday, wouldn't surprise me if that was our average," Fiona says, bouncing a colorful orb of energy between everyone.

Then, Beorn stealths and disappears, while an eagle swoops in. "Gwahir - go make sure Ayla are okay," Tiffany instructs.

"Where'd Beorn go?"

"I suppose - there's no one around? Good - I suppose when a ranger swaps pets, the last pet stealths and goes on Avoid Combat mode until I call him up again. I just called for Gwahir mentally... ooh that's creepy."

"Do you think you can swap to more than one different pet at a time?"

"It depends where the tamed but unused pets go when they're not used. If the selected ones stealth and go on avoid combat, the unselected ones do something, as well. It'd just be creepy if I had a host of invisible pets following me everywhere."

"Maybe they de-tame after a while if you don't use them enough?"

"I hope not. Maybe they just live in the home instance until I go pick them up. That'd be better. Ahggh." The illusionary sword in Tiffany's hand is stuck, buried in the elemental's shoulder. Tiffany strains to pull it out. "It's stuck. Can you shatter it? That'd probably dislodge it's arm."

The sword promptly shatters, and the elemental's arm - now just a lump of rock - falls to the ground.

"I didn't make any progress doing anything else with it, let's do that again." Tiffany observes, taking another sword from Fiona.

When that shatters, the elemental is defenseless.

"Okay, let's put several of them in the main body of the elemental, and shatter those."

"That worked surprisingly well," Fiona says, when the elemental is dead.

"Experience is everything. Let's check on Ayla and Mat."

The girls leave the site of the elemental attack, with a couple clones to finish off the lesser elementals.

"Ayla, Mat!" Tiffany calls.

"Did you kill it?" Mat asks.

"Yes, we did. It's safe now."

"I think that the giant elemental forms when the non-agressive ones are let alone for too long." Tiffany says.

"We should tell Flannum that, he can maybe hire somebody to deal with them."

"I wonder where the harpy nest is?" Tiffany asks. "We could clear that out, too."

"That'd be neat."

"We were looking, and we couldn't find any more leaks," Mat informs them.

"Good job! Now, we don't have to waste time looking again, because we split up like that. Isn't that neat?"

"It is!" Ayla says.

"If your theory about the elementals is correct, Tiff, there shouldn't be any more non-agressive elementals here for a while."

"In that case, our work here is done! We'll inform Flannum and then go help Miss Eda."

"I'll talk to Flannum, meet you in the orchard!" Fiona says.

"Come on, you two." Tiffany says, taking Mat and Ayla by the hand.

When they got to the farm, Tiffany sees a huge spider in the orchard.

"Kill it!" an older woman is saying, terrified. "I'm not giving up this farm!"

 _'I've never seen this before,'_  Tiffany thinks. ' _And I've played this zone uncountable times. Must be something new. Oh well.'_

"Stay, Mat. Ayla." Tiffany says, before leaping forward with knives in hand.

The spider turns, and a glob of gunk flew through the air. Tiffany tries to dodge, but sin't fast enough. She is imobilized.

She put her knives away and pulls out her bow, shooting until the immobilization wears off. Then, she shoots a special arrow she'd found in her quiver earlier - it was sheathed in conditional magic, stealthing her -  _if_  it hit. It hits, and she slips up close to the spider while Beorn distracts it.

Then, she is able to use her knives effectively, cutting off it's legs and slashing it until it died. That takes a while, and Fiona joines the fight halfway through. Mat and Ayla don't even know it - she'd left an illusion behind to watch them.

Illusions shattered and knives sheathed, the pair approach the farmer - Eda, Tiffany assumes.

"Need any other help?" Fiona asks her.

"Oh, that would be nice. I'm Eda, by the way."

"I'm Tiffany. That's Fiona, and these are our friends, Mat and Ayla. Mat, Ayla, this is Miss Eda."

"Hi!" Mat says, holding out his hand. "We're helpers!"

"I can tell," Eda tells them. "Would you like an apple pie?"

"I love apple pies!"

"Miss Eda is famous for her pies," a younger man standing by says. "The only problem is the apples. We collect them from the orchard, but it's infested with spiders."

"Spiders?" Ayla says timidly.

"I'm sure fighting spiders is worth it, for Miss Eda's pies." Fiona coaxes.

"Of course! Plus, we're helpers," Mat reminds her.

"Come on, it's just spiders, Ayla. I'm sure you could hit one with a rock from a ways away and it'd just die. Want to try it?" Tiffany asks.

"Sure!"

"Come on." the small group walks a bit away. Under her breath, so Ayla and Mat couldn't hear, she says, "can you make illusionary rocks, Fiona?"

"No," she whispered back. "We'll just have to find some."

 **"Leave a clone here, and go get some from the earth elementals,"** Tiffany says after a pause, in the other language. **"I'll show them how to collect apples, in the meantime."**

**"I can do that?"**

**"Countess Anise did it, in Living World season 1. Nobody realized it wasn't her until after. You should be able to do the same thing."**

**"Sure it doesn't take an elite specialization or just being really skillful?"**

**"Not sure. It might not be as convincing as when Anise did it, but it'll work with these two. Now, go!"**

"Why do you always talk in the other language?" Ayla complains. Fiona, next to Tiffany, quivers for a moment, and Tiffany knows Fiona has left. "It's annoying."

"I'm sorry, Ayla. We'll try not to do it so much. Now, I don't think this is the sort of place we could find many rocks. Want to try collecting apples? It'd get a jump-start if Miss Eda is going to bake some apple pies."

"Cool!" Mat says. "Let's find some!"

"Here's how we'll do this," Tiffany says. "I'll shake a tree to knock down the apples, and then I'll kill any spiders that come while you bring the apples to the man over there."

"Neat!"

This works for several minutes. Tiffany is careful not to involve the clone of Fiona too much.

When the real Fiona returns, Tiffany distracts Ayla and Mat for a moment while Fiona shatters the clone.

"Hey, guys! I found some rocks, you can try to hit some spiders with them!" she says, as if she'd just found them.

"Want to try? I'll go find a spider," Tiffany offers.

"Please!" Mat says, holding a small rock in his hand.

Tiffany soon returns with a spider following her. "Try it, Mat! You too, Ayla!"

They both throw their stones, but they both missed.

"Hrmm." Tiffany mumbles, looking at the spider. "Try aiming at..." she pulls out a knife, kills the spider, and then scratches a target on a nearby tree. "aim at that." she instructs. "We'll be able to see how off the mark you are, and adjust accordingly."

Mat and Ayla try throwing. They hit the tree, or in the immediate area, but not the target.

"We'll have to try this another time... or do you want to keep practicing while me and Tiffany kill the rest of the spiders?"

"Let's do that." Ayla says, her voice full of determination. "I want to learn this."

"That's the spirit!" Tiffany says.

After they get out of earshot, Fiona asks a question.

"I thought you didn't want to teach them this stuff?"

"Not with knives. Knives are dangerous. It's fine with rocks - every kid should be able to defend himself by throwing rocks and things. But it's too dangerous with knives, and too much potential to try and kill something bigger than a spider. I don't want them getting overconfident, but..."

"I see what you mean." Fiona nods.

They collect apples and kill spiders.

"Think that's all the egg sacs?" Tiffany asks.

"Yeah... it's the spiders that're in the trees that might make more."

"They die when they do that, so they haven't done that yet. If only Ayla and Mat could crawl up there and frighten them down, we could get rid of the spider menace here."

"Naw, they wouldn't do that. We'll have to stick with luring them out, or calling them down by shaking the tree."

"Oh well. Those branches aren't sturdy enough to hold us... but what about your illusions?"

"I could try it..." Fiona says dubiously. But she creates her illusion and sends it up a tree.

Immediately, about three spiders come down. Fiona creates more illusions, and has them go all throughout the trees, bringing down spiders. Beorn goes around getting their attention and bringing them to the pair, where they combine their areas of expertise to kill large amounts of spiders at once.

When there are no more spiders, even with Fiona's illusions populating the canopy of the large orchard, the pair is satisfied there were no more.

"Alright, Mat, Ayla!" Tiffany calls. "Apple collecting time!"

Fiona's illusions had been carefully shaking apples down, which the foursome collect and bring to Eda and her helper.

"That's a lot of apples!" she cries. "I can make lots of pies with this! But what about the spiders?"

"We got those taken care of, miss. No more spiders, no more spider egg sacs." Mat says, pretending to salute. "And we got most of the apples, too."

"You're all big helpers," Eda says to them. "Want to learn how to make the apple pies?" she says to Mat and Ayla.

"That would be awesome!" Ayla squeals.

"How long will it take?" Fiona asks.

"Oh, hours, with this many apples."

Fiona frowns. "We don't have that long. Maybe we could bake one pie, and then maybe come back tomorrow?"

"Let's do that! Please?" Ayla begs.

"That'll work," Eda says. "Come on in! It's baking time!"

"I don't feel like baking pies," Mat says slowly.

"No worries, Mat! We'll find something to do." Tiffany promises. When Ayla and Eda had gone inside, she continues, "let's practice your stone-throwing some more."

"Cool!" Mat says, brightening up.

"See, there's two types of throwing - overhand and underhand. If you're trying to get longer distance, underhand is better. Overhand is better for short range, but better accuracy. If you're good with underhand, even at short range, that'll work, but at short range it doesn't have the momentum needed to do much. You should learn both. Which do you want to learn?"

"Overhand." Mat says.

"Okay. Overhand is when you lift your arm over your head and back, palm facing forwards. Try it."

Mat does, and then he does while holding the rock.

"Half the battle with throwing things is knowing when to release. It's relatively easy to aim properly left and right, but releasing the rock at the right time is part of what determines where it lands on the up or down scale, also influenced by how hard you throw it. You got some good practice earlier with left to right aiming, now it's time to get the right force and timing down."

"So, how do I aim it like that?"

"The sooner you release the rock, the higher it'll go, and the farther. For example, if you swing your arm down but you don't release until your palm faces the ground, it won't do anything but fall faster than if you just dropped it. If you release almost immediately, though, it may go a little ways - but not very far, because of the angle - but mostly straight up. You'll not be aiming at birds, so you should try somewhere in the middle. It also depends on how far away the thing you're aiming at is. I recommend releasing at eye level, if you're looking straight ahead at what you are aiming at. Try it on the tree."

This went on for some time. Mat didn't hit the target, but he got a good idea of how hard to throw, and about when to release, judging on where it did land.

About an hour later, Ayla and Eda came out of the house. Ayla was grinning hugely.

"Look what we made, guys!" she beams.

"That looks yummy, Ayla!" Tiffany says proudly.

"Smells lovely, too!" Fiona smiles.

"Miss Eda taught you this?"

"Oh, yes! She wrote down the recipe, too, so Mom can make some at our house. It probably won't taste as good without Miss Eda's helping, though."

"Of course not, she's been doing this all her life," Tiffany tells her. "I doubt anybody could make them as well as Miss Eda without a lot of practice."

"Can we eat it?" Mat asks eagerly. "I'm hungry."

"Sure, that's why we made it!" Eda says. "I'll go get a picnic blanket, and we can eat under the trees. We haven't done that in a long time, because of the spiders."

"Well, we don't need to worry about them, not since we eradicated them all."

"What does eradicated mean?" Ayla asks.

"Hmm. I don't know how to explain it." Tiffany says thoughtfully. "What do you think it means, from how I used it?"

"Well, you got rid of the spiders. You killed them, you drove them off?"

"I think 'got rid of' sums it up," Fiona put in.

"But you could probably use it instead of killed them. Drove them off, however, you'd rather use the word... you could have said, you routed the spiders, or something like that. But, you eradicated them." Eda interjects.

"That makes sense." Mat says.

A while later, after the pie had been eaten, it was time to go.

"That was a lovely pie, Miss Eda." Tiffany says. "Thank you!"

"Thank you for eradicating our spider problem!" Eda says. "And we were very behind on the apple collecting, as well. Those apples were left over from last year, I'm surprised there were so many."

"I think the secret to your apple pies is not only in the making of the pie, but in the cultivation of your apple trees. These trees seem very healthy to me, even after being infested with spiders."

"That may be. In that case, my instincts about not leaving this orchard ever must have been instincts, and not just sentimental value."

"What does sentimental mean?" Mat asks.

"It means something is very precious to you. See this farm? If Miss Eda sold it, it might be worth a lot of money. But, she wants the farm more than the money, because she probably grew up here, and she's lived here all her life. You're a bit to young to understand, but how would you feel if, I don't know, you moved? Say, to Triskell Quay?"

"Where's Triskell Quay?" Ayla asks.

"It's a place way south of here, not in Shaemoor. It's past the swamp that's a while south. How would you like to move to somehwere you'd never heard of?"

"I'd miss home, a lot."

"But what if your dad made more money there? And you could have more things to play with?"

"I'd still want to be back home." Mat says stubbornly.

"Exactly. Your home has sentimental value. Even if you got money from leaving, you'd still want to stay. Miss Eda feels that way about this orchard, and that feeling's a lot stronger, because she's lived for a lot longer than you. You're only six, and so eventually, if you lived in Triskell Quay, you'd forget about Shaemoor, and not have any sentimental attachment. But Miss Eda's a lot older, and the feeling's a lot stronger. So she wants to stay here and not move, even when centaurs come."

"I see." Ayla nods.

"That makes sense," Mat agrees.

"But see, anybody who wants to buy this doesn't think it has sentimental value, it's just an orchard to him, and so he wouldn't offer as much money as it would take to overcome Miss Eda's sentimental value. So, you can't sell something at a really high price, and say it's because of sentimental value. You could call it personal value, because nobody else values it that high."

"Okay." the children nod.

"Oh, my!" Eda exclaims, looking at the sky. "It's really late! I'm sure you're parents must be worried already!"

"Oh, g - " Tiffany bites off her sentence - Tyrians probably don't say 'geez'. "We need to get home, guys! Thanks again for the pie, Miss Eda!" she said, pulling Mat to his feet.

"Thank you again for the help!" Eda says. "Now go, I haven't the slightest clue what I'd be thinking if one of my kids had been late, out in the wild like this."

"Come on, Ayla," Fiona says.

"Come back tomorrow, and we can finish baking the pies, Ayla!" Eda calls, waving.

"We will!" the foursome chorus.

"Now, Ayla, Mat, I'm going to show you something super cool. We need to go out of our way a bit, but it'll save a ton of time tomorrow. Come on, let's run!"

Tiffany turns south, with a questioning Fiona and an eager Mat and Ayla on her heels.

Just after they pass the southward edge of Eda's orchard, Tiffany stops.

"See that?" she says, pointing at a large, squarish piece of metal hovering high above their heads, glowing blue. It casts a blue ring of light on the ground below it, and it seems as if blue dust is trailing onto the ground below.

"What is it?"

"It is called a waypoint. There's one back in Shaemoor, too. They're all over the place. One by Diah's farm, too. We can use them to get back home in a blink. Do you remember seeing one at those places?"

"Yes." Mat and Ayla agree. "It's just outside the inn, we see it every day."

"Focus on seeing that, and wish you were there. Remember, your mother is likely worried about you."

With a brief flash of dusty blue, Mat and Ayla disappear. Tiffany and Fiona follow.

Outside the inn, the metal-worked sigil that is a universal sign for 'waypoint' flashes blue, and first Mat, then Ayla appear inside the blue ring. Then, Tiffany and Fiona appear.

"Was that fun?"

"Very fun!" Mat says. "And the one we were just by?"

"We can get to it the same way."

"So cool!"

"Now, we don't have to waste time going from one place to another, to be efficient. Now, where do you live? I want to make sure your parents know you were safe."

"Oh, my dad lives up the road a ways, on the left. Come on, I'll show you!" Mat runs up the street.

When they get to Mat and Ayla's house, Mat and Ayla just walk on in (it's their house). Tiffany knocks on the doorframe.

"Oh, we were so worried! Come in, come in!" said whom Tiffany supposes is Mat and Ayla's mother. "I'm Katherine. You can call me Kate. And this is my husband Richard."

"I hope you didn't worry too much. You've heard of Eda, the farmer to the west? We got to talking and forgot how late it was." Fiona jumps right in to the topic.

"I was just about to set out looking for them," Richard says. "You were at Eda's? Tell me."

"She needed help keeping her orchard going even before centaurs attacked, what with spiders and all. We cleared those out, and then Miss Eda invited Ayla in to make an apple pie with her, while we taught Mat how to throw stones at spiders."

"She gave me the recipe, so we can make it at home, too!" Ayla pipes up.

"Why, how lovely!" Katherine exclaims. "I'll never be able to bake as well as Miss Eda, though."

"You know her?"

"Before these little ones came along, we used to be acquainted." Kate says.

"I see. I hope you don't mind, then?"

"Oh, no. Just a little warning maybe would be nice."

"They showed us how to use waypoints!" Mat says. "They're so cool!"

"It was already late by the time we noticed we had to be getting back. You know how far it is to walk from Eda's orchard."

"Good call." Richard praises

"We're going back tomorrow to make more pies!" Ayla says excitedly.

"How nice," Katherine exclaims. "Do you think Eda would mind if I joined you?"

"Not at all," Tiffany answers. "I think she likes company."

"Oh, she does indeed." Kate replies with a laugh. "That's why she got so good at making pies, so she could entice people to come over and eat them."

"Really?" Fiona asks. "That's hilarious, but I probably would have done something like that, too."

"If you'll excuse us, we have to be going," Tiffany says. "It's late for us as well. Bye, guys!"

"See you tomorrow!" Mat and Ayla wave together.

* * *

Later, at the inn, Tiffany tells Fiona her idea.

"We're going to need to clear out the Bandithaunt Caverns, Fiona. I was thinking we could do that tomorrow, while Mat and Ayla are busy at Eda's. I really don't want them tagging along while we kill all the bandits."

"Good idea. We'll end the bandit menace tomorrow!"

"The caverns aren't the only place the bandits hole up, you know. There's other places, like that cave behind the graveyard in Beggar's Burrow."

"Well, if we've got time, we can hit that place as well."

"It'll take a while to clear out the caverns, though. It'll also be dangerous, just the two of us taking on all those bandits. Our level if we were players would be about five, what with what we've done already, and that's the level you first go into those caverns."

"You think we should wait a bit?"

"This is our opportunity, with Mat and Ayla distracted, their mother watching them along with Eda... it might take all day, or it might take us several days, but it'll do something."

"Okay."

"Good night, Fiona."

"Night, Tiff."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I can wait to get to part where they do what was, before, the 'level ten' 'quest'. I'm telling you, that's my favorite part so far... and I haven't even written it yet! It'll be the start of subplots... sub _plots_... just because I can do that when I know how the story _would've_ turned out. Yay me! Sorry for rambling, I just need to rant about how happy I am sometimes.
> 
> And Tiffany's thing with jumping after she sees the vista is totally out of character... actually, when I get a glider in, like, a thousand chapters, I'm going to be terrified about jumping off cliffs, even with a proven glider. And without one? /shudder.


	3. The 'Tutorial'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILER WARNING: This is the one and only time you will be warned: There are spoilers up to the end of the Heart of Thorns expansion and the first two chapters of LS3. I know, you haven't finished those and you want to read this anyway. Well, don't. You'll be sorry you did. Very. Very. Very sorry. And not from anything I can do to you - no, this knowledge is different. Ignorance is bliss, as some say. You. Have. Been. Warned. Heed it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the Guild Wars series or the three books (Edge of Destiny, Ghosts of Ascalon, or Sea of Sorrows). I am not affiliated with Arenanet or the writers of the books. I am not making any money from writing this story. I intend no copyright infringment of Arenanet or any other.
> 
> Additional notes for AO3 format: I will upload pictures occasionally of the OCs in the story. The first two are me (Tiffany) and my sister (Fiona), in that order. I'll note the others when they appear.
> 
> Okay, here's the story now:

“The map arrived!” Tiffany squeals. “Let’s put it up now!”

  
Tiffany and her sister, Fiona, had ordered a map of Tyria, and were tacking the massive map to the wall in the living room. It took up the entire wall, but it had an awesome scale. Rather than the seven-inch-wide photo on the wiki, it spanned the entire wall.

  
“ _So _worth the cost!” Tiffany nods, satisfied. “And the scale on this thing...”__  
Fiona put her hand on the map. “It’s all... soft. It’s not paper, it’s cloth! No wonder it was so expensive! And it’s so big!”  
“Cloth? Wow!” Tiffany gasps, feeling the material.  
They admire the map for a few minutes, locating cities and zones (unmarked, but not hard to find).  
“One thing I love is how it shows all the zones as explored already,” Tiffany says. "Not in as exact detail as the player map - it doesn't have hearts and waypoints and things, but still!"  
“Well, duh, of course it would!” Fiona rolled her eyes. “Why wouldn’t it?”  
“I suppose...”  
“ _Suppose, _yeah right,” Fiona elbows her sister and they both laugh.__  
Then, the map begins to glow.  
“It looks like a treasure chest when someone opens it in a movie!” Tiffany observes. “Only, it’s a map...”  
“ _That _looks _weird _...” Fiona says in a creeped-out tone of voice, taking a step back. “I’m _sure _something’s wrong with it.”______  
The glow grows stronger, and brighter. Both girls stumble back, shielding their eyes. Then, as quickly as it started, it is gone.  
The map is gone, the room is gone. They aren't anywhere they had seen before. It is blackness, nothingness. Where the map on the wall had been, a holographic control panel shines. It is the character creation from the game! Only, it has a host more controls for appearance and things.  
Fiddling with the controls, the girls realize that, as they select things, it is not a character that changes it’s appearance, but them.  
“Fiona! Look at your hair!” Tiffany gasps.  
Fiona’s hair had turned an unnaturally bright red.  
“What the - what’s going on?” Fiona demands.  
Tiffany reaches over and selects another color on Fiona’s controls, and her hair turns purple.  
“That is so cool!” Tiffany grins.  
“Tiffany!” Fiona sighs. “Oh, look! A default button!” she presses the button and her hair returns to normal.  
“That’s cool. I wonder what if we chose a different race?” Tiffany wonders, flipping back and choosing asura. “I wonder if I could make myself look like one of the NPCs?”  
“Probably, with these advanced controls. I can change my arms’ length, I mean really! Everything!”  
“I wonder if I could make myself look like Zojja, or Taimi?” Tiffany speculates. “Let’s try it!” she fiddles with the controls awhile. “Look, I can see what I’ll look like in different armor and stuff, though it has a warning saying that’s not what I’ll start out as. Fiona, look at me! I look like Zojja now!”  
“You sound weird.”  
“That’s because I also changed the voice option!”  
“You can do that?”  
“Yeah, look there!”  
“Wow...” Fiona studies the controls. “We can make ourselves look like anyone!”  
“Lets not create a character that looks like an NPC, though - that would just be weird.”  
“Yeah, you’re right. But we can still see how much we can make ourselves look like other people without creating it!”  
The girls move sliders and options and customize themselves, laughing when they get it almost right but absurdly wrong.  
“Alright, now I’m bored,” Fiona announces after they’ve tried everyone they can think of.  
“Hm. Yeah, there’s only so much you can do in a character creation menu.”  
They both look like a cross between... well, like a character being created that is only half done.  
Then, someone starts talking. They can't see anything except themselves and the holographic control panel in front of them, and they can't tell where the voice is coming from.  
“Create a character that will represent you - forever. Once created, you will enter Tyria as a world. It will be real life from then on. You are smart enough to know what that implies.”  
“ _Real life? _” Tiffany whispers. “The character will represent us?” she turns to look at the hologram again. “Yeah, default. If it's gonna be as real as this, I don't want somebody else's body, or at least one that's not my own. Creepy. Let’s create us, then.”__  
They both choose the same choices - human, female, etc., except for class, name, appearance, and the question of which of the Six had blessed them when they were young. Tiffany is a ranger, Fiona a mesmer. Tiffany chooses Kormir while Fiona picks Dwayna.  
“Hey - it skipped the question about dignity, charm, and ferocity!” Tiffany realizes.  
“Well, that has all to do with personality, right?” Fiona replies absentmindedly. “And we’re us, it wouldn’t really apply, don’t you think?”  
“Ahh, that makes sense. What should we do for names?”  
“Well, our real names, obviously,” Fiona says. “It’s real now, and I don’t want to be called by my online alias all the time, especially if we look like us. The point of the online alias is so people don’t know it’s us, but if we have our own faces they’ll know it anyway.”  
“That makes sense. Ooh, look, there’s a family button! We can, in the lore, be related!"  
“Cool. Hey, we can be twins!”  
“Yeah, let’s do that. Not identical, though - that’d be confusing.”  
“Yeah, let’s not do that. But still twins.”  
“Of course. Alright - lets enter Tyria!” Tiffany slaps her hand over the ‘create’ button, and her hand sticks. So does Fiona’s. The holographic control panel disappears and the surrounding blackness becomes a rainbow of colors swirling into place. While that is going on, the mysterious voice from earlier comes back.  
“Remember, this is real life. There is no such thing as an NPC. There is no such thing as computer-generated effects.”  
“No NPCs! That means everyone is real!” Tiffany gasps. "Let's make use of Shilgni..."  
Then, the surrounding colors seem to click into place and the two are standing on the streets of Divinity’s Reach, just inside the city. Tiffany can see the dark gates of the city are shut, and only a narrow door is open in the wall by the gates.  
“Come on, Fiona! Lo - this is going to be crazy - Captain Thackeray needs help, remember?” Tiffany pulls her sister to the side-door.  
As the two step cautiously outside of the city, Tiffany notices someone shouting for everyone to get to the inn.  
“Everything has consequence now, Fiona - let’s get these people to the inn. C’mon!”  
They split up, telling people to get to the inn where they would be safe. Tiffany came to the inn leading two small children by the hand. She knelt down by them and, looking at them in the eyes, tells them softly, “Stay here. If your parents come looking for you, they might miss you if you’re moving around. My sister will be back in a minute, I’m sure - and if she hasn’t found your parents, they’ll probably be here or me and her will go find them. Okay?  
“Thank you, Tiffany,” the smaller of the two says tearfully.  
Tiffany turns in time to see two people rushing in the door, with Fiona on their heels.  
“Tiffany, did you - oh, you did.”  
“There they are, children. Go see your parents. I have to go fight the centaurs now, okay?”  
“Come back!”  
“I’ll try!” Tiffany waves as she runs back out the door.  
“Made friends already, eh Tiff?”  
“Sure did. Did you?”  
“Not really, you can’t talk to people who’re concerned for their kids.”  
After a moment of silence:  
“We need to get used to saying ‘Captain Thackeray’ rather than ‘Logan’, because if we accidentally call him Logan I’ve got no idea what he would think or how it’d mess up the story.”  
“Yeeah.” Fiona nods quickly.  
As the two run up to garrison where Captain Thackeray is battling centaurs with the other Seraph, Tiffany realizes that they are a bit behind - the centaur that summoned the earth elemental is already within the garrison, and the situation is much worse than normal, because there aren’t any PCs to help - only them. Of course, there's no distinction between NPC and PC anymore.  
The two girls instantly launch into combat, Tiffany handling her bow gingerly - it looks weak and delicate compared to what she’s used to, and is afraid it might break. The girls’ arrival instantly turns the tide of the battle, and the Modniir champion soon turns tail and runs.  
Tiffany shoots a few weak arrows, and realizes it works. She leans over to Fiona.  
“Normally he’s invulnerable, but it’s life so he’s not! Quickly, kill him before he summons the earth elemental!”  
Both girls continue shooting at the centaur, but don’t kill him before the earth elemental is up. He does get killed, however.  
Tiffany is ignoring the elemental and letting Fiona deal with it while she fights the lesser elementals and centaurs with Captain Thackeray. She is not just using her bow, either - she has knives hidden up her shirtsleeves that she’s using when she gets the chance. She'd picked them up at the inn, hoping it would come in useful. It’s life, and weapons aren’t determined by profession anymore - only the type that she’s learned. Beorn, her pet bear, is off attacking the elemental with Fiona.  
All at once she spins and vaults over Captain Thackeray, planting a knife into the heart of a centaur before whirling to the side and whacking another one over the head with the shaft of her bow. She continues fighting hand-to-hand like that until she can get back to using her bow as a ranged weapon - the centaurs had suddenly swarmed on them, getting too close for an arrow to do much (it didn’t have the time to pick up enough momentum). She adopted a trick she’d read about and used her arrows as stabbing weapons - it worked beautifully. She also decided she would always carry knives around with her - they were ranged when she threw them, for one thing, and it enabled her to have a surprise up her sleeve - literally.  
She hides a grin at the surprised look on Captain Thackeray's face as she spins and dodges, if not effortlessly, with more skill than a city girl should have.  
"Showing off, sis?" Fiona asks as she dodges to her side.  
"Maybe a bit - I never knew why Captain Thackeray took such an interest in me when I played, except that we were the only PCs. Which still shouldn't make any sense - he's got a squad of Seraph here, and we're untrained city girls. It's life now, things'll probably make more sense. You should try it, too."  
"Perhaps I will... some other time. Illusions are my forte, remember, lil' girl."  
"We're twins!" Tiffany cries in mock outrage. "and if we weren't, I'm older than you!"  
Fiona laughs and darts away.  
Later, as Tiffany and Beorn are bringing the gigantic elemental down, Fiona is on hand to warn Captain Thackeray of the impending explosion.  
"Captain! I don't think that centaur would have given us any old elemental to deal with - look for a trick," Fiona tells him as she kicks a lesser elemental apart. "It's a magically-sustained bit of earth, and you know what earth is best for - rockslides, cave-ins, and other things." Before he can reply, she fragments and disappears.  
Captain Thackeray glances around to see four Fionas about ten yards away, and occasionally one of them will fragment with a small explosion. One Fiona grins at him and waves. He stares at her in astonishment for a moment before shaking his head and getting back to the elemental he was fighting.  
"I thought you didn't approve of showing off?" Tiffany asks Fiona with a toss of her hair.  
"I thought you did? You should try it sometime."  
"Copycat," Tiffany mock-scowls.  
As the elemental explodes, Tiffany and Fiona turn and run away from it, remembering that in the original, they were unconscious for three days, and since this is real life now, it would hurt badly, most likely.  
They were still both hurt rather badly from the fighting, as well as the explosion, but were not unconscious. Tiffany casts a wary glance over the plains at the top of the hill before retreating back to the garrison, to ensure that no centaurs or lesser elementals were unleashed upon the countryside.  
At the garrison, Captain Thackeray insists the two of them get medical attention at the inn, so Tiffany and Fiona, pretending to grumble, go to the inn to be patched up.  
As Tiffany goes in, she is nearly knocked off her feet by the two children she'd rescued earlier.  
"Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine, but Captain Thackeray wants to make sure, so me and my sister are going to get a checkup."  
"Which one is older?"  
"We're twins."  
"But you both look different!" the little girl exclaims in surprise.  
"We don't have to look the same. The ones who look the same are called identical twins. Do you know what identical means?"  
"No."  
"It means two things looks exactly the same. In this case, two people look exactly the same, which is rare unless they're twins. So, most twins are assumed to be identical, because it occurs in twins about half the time. But me and Fiona are not identical."  
"I see,"  
"Now, neither of you have told me your names."  
"My name is Ayla," the little girl says shyly.  
"I'm Mat," says the boy importantly.  
"Nice to meet you. I am Tiffany, you know that already, and this is my sister Fiona. Now, we're friends!"  
"Friends!" Ayla says happily, hugging Tiffany and Fiona.  
"Now, we need to go get fixed up, but I'll see you later, okay?"  
"Later!" Ayla waves happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you like it? Tell me! Tell me! I like feedback.
> 
> Is it too short, too detailed, did I make somebody out of character, do you like the idea of us making friends with Ayla and Mat, do you like...
> 
> I've never liked cliffhangers, so I'll put in as few of those as I possibly can. I don't plan the chapter endings, I end it when I don't know how to describe what happened next.
> 
> Anyway. I hope you like it, and don't forget to like and/or follow the story when you send off your review!


	4. Bandits in Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiffany and Fiona take Ayla, Mat, and their mother, Katherine, to Eda's house to bake some apple pies. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Fiona sneak off the oust the bandits that have been troubling the area from the Bandithaunt caverns. Whoa! Their level, if they were players, is only five. But they're not players, and Tiffany has some tricks up her sleeve - literally! While Fiona's a lot more advanced in deception than a girl her age should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, some of you might be wondering what exactly are the weapons that Tiffany and Fiona have been using? Here they are, and you can look up on the wiki online exactly what those weapons do in the hands of certain professions. Yay for real life! Weapons switching need not wait until 'level ten'.  
> Tiffany uses, aside from her knives in her sleeves, primarily a Longbow, but she can switch to using an Axe in main hand and a Dagger in her off hand. Fiona can summon a Greatsword for her to use.  
> Fiona uses, primarily, a Greatsword, herself, but can switch to using a Staff. She'll summon a Greatsword for Tiffany to use, occasionally.  
> Also, Fiona can do the things I've seen NPC mesmers (Kasmeer Meade and Countess Anise) doing, because it's life now. Yay!

When Tiffany and Fiona go to pick up Mat and Ayla, they aren't home.

"Kate already took them to Eda's via waypoint," Richard informs them.

"Thanks." Tiffany says.

The two waypoint to Eda's orchard, and approach the house. Mat is showing his mother his stone-throwing skills, and telling Ayla what he'd learned while she was making pies yesterday.

"Your boy learns fast," Eda tells Kate. "My boys took forever to understand terminology like overhand and underhand, and I had to explain ten times what velocity meant."

"I think he's just motivated," Fiona observes. "He really wants to help us kill things like spiders once he's learned."

"That's right!" Mat says enthusiastically. "And if the spiders ever come back here, they'll be gone before they can make any more egg sacs!"

"Good for you Mat." Tiffany says. "What did you learn yesterday, Ayla?"

"I learned how to follow a recipe. I can't read one, but if somebody reads it out loud I can follow the directions."

"Good for you! And the best part comes when you remember without needing to look at the recipe."

"That's what Miss Eda said, too," Ayla replies. "Can we make more pies, now?" she asks Eda.

"Of course! Come on in, everybody. You too, Mat. You don't know what you're missing," Eda replies wisely.

"Oh, alright," Mat grumles, but he seems interested all the same.

After a few minutes watching the baking, Tiffany notices Fiona quiver, and knows shes cloned herself. They'd arranged to meet by the waypoint at the other end of the orchard. Fiona's clone would wander around for a while, fading into the background, before leaving the house and shattering.

Tiffany's plan is to just watch the proceedings quietly for a while, before shooting Fiona's clone with one of her special arrows that make her invisible. Because it was a clone, Fiona had it ready to take the shot so Tiffany could leave without being noticed.

When Tiffany gets to the waypoint, the pair do a high-five and start southward.

"I'm not complaining, but it sure is nice to be alone, just us, for once. I've been in the company of Mat and Ayla for the last three days, and they are a bit exhausting."

"I know what you mean. I wouldn't want to never see them, but all day for three days is a bit much."

"I feel odd, not wanting to be around children. We had six others 24/7 before the map did it's thing."

"Yeah, I know. It's crazy."

"I know it's okay for now - I mean, we've been away from them for days at a time before - but I'm going to miss them. Especially Laura and Vinn."

"Oh, my little Lori," Fiona said in a longing voice.

"I know! And unless they get pulled in, too, we'll never..." Tiffany stops.

"Oh, no..." Fiona moans

"I haven't seen any PCs at all," Tiffany says in a slightly panicked voice. "Will we never see them again? I'm sure after a while I'll even miss Falcon!"

"You, miss Falcon?" Fiona asks incredulously.

"I know! But if we never see him again?"

"I know what you mean. What about Eden?"

"They're  _all_  cute! Or if not cute, they're still family!"

"I know, I know!" Fiona says.

"Ayla and Mat are cute and stuff in their own way, but they can't replace anyone!"

"The biggest danger is us thinking they're Eden and Nate, they're the same age!"

"I know... we'll just have to remember they're not."

"I hope it works," Fiona said worriedly.

"Fiona!" Tiffany said suddenly. "Laura - our Lori - she's only one! She's tiny!"

"Oh, no, not this again..." Fiona groans. She glances around to make sure no one is there, before speaking again. "Look, Taimi's an asura, I doubt we'll get the two mixed up."

"We better hope," Tiffany says.

"Taimi's not cute enough to be Laura, anyway. No offense to Taimi, you understand, but there's no way we're mixing those two up."

"Yeah, you're totally right. They might be the same size, but yeah." Tiffany says, brightening up. "Because, it'd be the worst thing in the world if we accidentally called Taimi Laura at some point. Everyone would think we were crazy, we can't explain what happened without insulting everybody."

"Yeeah. We're... right."

"Well, here we are," Tiffany says ferociously. "Let's kill some bandits!"

They approach a woman standing by a pen that housed moas.

"Hello!" Tiffany says cheerfully. "Got a bandit problem?"

"Oh, yes. They're all over the place. I think they live in that cave over there."

"We'll deal with them, miss," Fiona promises.

"Thank you!"

They slip into the cave and begin fighting bandits.

"These are bandits?" Tiffany asks rhetorically. "They're so... squishy."

"You're stabbing them in the heart with a hand over their mouth, of course they're squishy." Fiona said dryly.

"I suppose..."

"Suppose?" Fiona raises an eyebrow.

"Fine. I supp... ugh, you know what I mean," Tiffany mock-grumbles.

They both laugh.

"This is surprisingly easy," Tiffany says eventually.

"Yeah, well, there's no such thing as a health bar anymore, so..."

"How impeding the health bar is! It's not even realistic."

"No, it's not. I mean, for example, I cut your head off. Ha! You're dead. No, you only lost ten hit points. Really?"

"I don't think it's like that here, though. I mean, I've got hurt before, but I wasn't notified - you lost ten hp!"

"I know. I wonder if reviving still works?"

"If so, this is pointless."

"No, I mean for us. We die countless time in the game, but we revive, or waypoint. Or a revival orb. What happens if we die?"

"That's creepy."

"I don't know if I have a heal skill. I mean, if I'd never played and got pulled in, I wouldn't have the slightest clue what I'd be able to do with my bow. I'd just shoot. As it is, I don't know if there's a lore explanation for my heal skill. I kinda miss having my character - or me, I suppose - shouting  _'We heal as one!'_ "

Instantly, Tiffany feels refreshed and healed.

"What the - ?" she said. "Oh. I suppose it's useful having a shout skill for healing. What about yours?"

"It's not a shout, it just... heals. I click 6 and I heal." Fiona shrugs.

"Do you have any heal shouts you could use instead?"

"No, mesmers are apparently greatly lacking in that regard. Isn't there a racial heal skill?"

"Yeah, but you need to pray to Dwayna for that."

"Um,  _no_. Let's not do that," Fiona grimaces.

"Exactly. So how are you going to heal?"

"I've got one where I meditate to charge up the skill, and it heals me next time I click 6, no idea how to do that here. I've got a signet, and the others are all somthing I've got no idea how to do. Manipulation, or no category."

"Signet... signet... Ah! I remember. You carry something around with you. The forums disagree on what it is - it could be a ring, a stone tablet, a gem... got any of those that scream 'full of magical energy' on you?"

"No, that signet one is one I have to get with hero points. So I suppose when I spend the hero points I'll get a signet?"

"But how do hero points work?"

"You're infused with magical energy when you do a task? The commune ones are all 'this is a place of power, commune with it to gain...' so that makes sense. And then, to make a signet, the energy solidifies and turns into a signet maybe?"

"Let's hope it works. You need two hero points to unlock a healing skill, I think. We'll just need to not let you get hurt too bad until we've got those. So we're both stuck on our healing skill - luckily we have something that has a lore explanation. Shouts are obviously shouts. I remember looking up signets, trying to find exactly how they were used - it took me forever and day to find anything useful. And I'm still not sure."

"Let's hope it works," Fiona echoes.

All this time they'd been killing bandits.

"I just love this - there's no such thing as mobs respawning!" Fiona says enthusiastically a while later.

"I know, right? Don't need to watch my back or anything, like normal."

* * *

Meanwhile, at Eda's orchard, Mat has lost interest in the baking. Mom, Ayla, and Miss Eda seem to enjoy it, but it is boring to Mat. He went back outside to practice with his stones some more.

He absently wonders where Tiffany Fiona were. Probably - Mat stops. That's Fiona, there.

He follows what he thinks is Fiona for a while. She is heading south. She stops when he could see a pen of moas not far ahead. Then, Fiona shatters. Mat jumps back, biting off a yell.

He realizes it must be one of Fiona's clones, not her.

He goes closer to the pen, and sees a woman standing there. He wonders if she'd seen Fiona or Tiffany.

"Hello," he said shyly. "Did you see my friend? I think she came this way. She has brown hair and blue eyes."

"Oh yes. She and a friend - or a sister, I don't know - came through a couple minutes ago. They're in the bandit caves, getting rid of them."

"Why?"

"The bandits have been bothering everyone around here, don't you know?"

"I'm going to help them," Mat says stoutly, turning to walk away.

"Oh, you can't do that!" the woman cries in distress. "You can't go in there, you'll be killed!"

Mat looks at her for a moment. Then, he put on a sad face and said, "Oh. Well, is there any other way I can help? It can't be just the bandits."

"The moas keep running off. You could look in the bushes over there by the cave," she says distractedly.

"Okay!" Mat said. He can hardly contain his grin as he runs to the entrance of the cave. He pokes around for a few minutes, 'looking' for moas and privately thinking he is the smartest boy in the world.

He sits down by a bush a few minutes later, looking around. He'd carefully chosen a place that was out of sight from the woman by the moas.

However, the entrance to the cave is in full sight of her. He frowns. How is he going to get in?

He goes into the bush behind him, hoping that he can edge behind the bushes and make a quick dash to the cave entrance.

Instead, he hears a grunt. Surprised, he scrambles out of the bush, before remembering that the lady wants him to be looking for lost moas. Maybe that's what it is? He pokes at the bush, which grunts again. A mean-looking bandit jumps out and clamps a hand over his mouth before Mat can make any noise.

"Looky what we have here," the bandit mumbles under his breath, looking at Mat's terrified face. "A little kid lost, far away from anyone who could help," he chuckled nastily. "your little friends in the cave won't help you now," he tells Mat, grinning. "You're comin' with me."

The bandit carries Mat away - away from the moa pen, away from the entrance to the cave where Tiffany and Fiona are, and away from the orchard where his mother is.

Mat is scared stiff. The bandit is holding Mat's hands behind his back, and is pushing him at a fast walk northward.

After a couple of minutes, Mat is relieved to notice they are nearing Shaemoor village. He hopes the bandit is simply taking him home. He is sorely mistaken.

Instead, the bandit cut through fields, avoiding people. He is heading towards the Shaemoor garrison, but he stops behind some bushes. He harshly commands Mat to be quiet and not move while he roots through his pockets, with a fierce eye on Mat.

He pulls a length of rope out of a pocket. Mat, terrified, jumps up and runs. The bandit whirls the rope above his head - it is a lasso, although nobody in Tyria would have called it that - and he is a good aim, too. He stops Mat in his tracks, before securely tethering Mat to him. He leaves his arms and legs free, though.

Then, the bandit scrambles up the cliff that lines the left side of the road to the Shaemoor garrison, the rope forcing Mat to follow.

The bandit dodges among the houses, and eventually the pair come to a graveyard, with an elderly man prowling among the headstones.

It seems to be an easy matter, from Mat's perspective, that the bandit avoids the old man and slips into a cave in the cliff face, over a bridge, and knocks on a door.

"Password?" comes a rough voice from behind the door.

"I've got a prisoner, Switch," the bandit replies. "No can do with that password."

"A prisoner, eh?" says the voice, and the door opens a crack.

"I know you. Get in 'ere, Jake. And bring your - why, it's just a boy!"

"I know it is. But 'e was tryin' to slip into our caves to the southwest. Speakin' of them, they'll need our help. Some city girls've decided they can take on Ted."

The two lead Mat down a stairway.

"Mebbe they just don't know Ted's out there today?"

"Could be," the bandit identified as Jake grunts. "They're tryin' to take down the bandits, anyway. A couple noobs tried to raid that girl's farm the other day - you know the one, right by Shaemoor? - and got frightened off by those girls. Babbling something about deadly aim, and invisible people, and scared stiff. Proud folks, too, from what I hear. Don't even know how many there are. First they'll say two, then four, three, five, I mean really."

"Well, go tell Blaize, he'll inform Ted when he gets back."

"I think the softies down there'll need some backup."

"They're the soft ones, yeah. We don't need them." Switch snorts. "But go tell Blaize, he'll deal with it."

"Boy," Jake snarles to Mat. "Get in there," he points at an empty cage. He shoves Mat inside and chains up the door. He hangs the key tauntingly on a nearby peg, far out of reach, and goes on down the stairs, laughing.

Mat scrambles to the back of the cage and sits there, trembling.

The voices of the bandits faded away. Switch passes him by on his way back up the stairway, waving tauntingly at him.

Mat's cage is atop a ledge that overlooked the rest of the cavern. If he cared to look, he'd have had a good view of the goings-on of the bandit's activities. There are several other cages in a row beside his, but they are all empty.

He hears loud voices from the people in the main body of the cavern. It seems Jake is arguing with somebody.

"Fine, fine!" he heard snarled over the rest of the noise from the bandits. "Take Della and Johnny and deal with it, but don't come complaining to me if Ted gives you a beatin'."

Jake comes fuming up the stairwell, and Mat tried to stay still so the bandit wouldn't notice him.

"Blaize is bein' stupid today," he hears Jake tell Switch. "Won't give me any more backup than Della and Johnny, not that they're not great at what they do, but we'll need more than that to stop those girls. I think we'll need more than that."

"There is the softies already at the caverns, and you know Ted's there today."

"Ted might not actually be there. He never tells us where he's going, why'd he tell us today?" Jake grumbles.

Then, the creaking of a door, and then the soft click of a lock, and there is silence.

* * *

"You're a mesmer, Fiona, you should be fine. Don't worry about it," Tiffany advises Fiona. "You can just let your illusions take the hits."

"But if somebody's watching us before attacking, they'll see I'm the one you interact with, I'm the one that never shatters, and - "

"That's why the shatter effect occurs at your location, too!" Tiffany sighs. "You can go invisible while the shatter happens, and then pop up somewhere else. Don't you have sensory input from the illusions?"

"Yes," Fiona grumbles.

"And you can make the illusions talk. I'll switch around talking, and you'll switch around replying, and dope anyone who could be watching."

"Fine."

"You're too paranoid, anyway. Hey, wouldn't it've been so cool if Moody was a mesmer?"

"Oh, Tiffany..."

"No, really! He'd be so much more good at being paranoid! And it'd be that much easier for someone to impersonate him. Because unless you're focusing, your clones don't act totally like you, do they?"

"No..."

"So if Moody was a mesmer, wouldn't that be so cool?"

"There's no such thing as mesmers where he comes from! He comes from a place that at least pretends to be real life, and there's no such thing as mesmers in real life."

" _This_  is real life!"

"Yes, but - "

"You're acting like Hermione! Anything can happen with a magic wand!"

"You obsess too much over those people."

"I obsess more over Guild - "

"Obviously, or we wouldn't have gotten that map." Fiona retorts.

"You're acting like back when I'd say 'hey, in Guild Wars, what if - ' and you'd just say 'ugh, not again, I don't caaare...'

"Yeah right. If I still did that I'd be tearing my hair out at all the lore lessons you'd be teaching me. You still know too much lore."

"Well it's a good thing I knew the lore for your healing skill," Tiffany retorts.

"Think we're maybe getting a little to open with references to real life?" Fiona asks softly. "We might not get through these caves today."

"I wish there was some other method of telling time than the sun," Tiffany groans.

"Maybe you can invent one,"

"I'm a ranger. It'd probably be more in the mesmer's forte to do that. Or an engineer."

"Right." Fiona says, rolling her eyes. "How silly of me to have forgotten."

After a while, Tiffany stops and points. "Look there's stairs."

"There's stairs all over, you haven't wanted to go up any of those."

"Yeah, but I think we've got all the bandits on the ground. Time to climb."

"Let's go, then." Fiona agrees.

"It's too high to jump from without getting hurt, so once we've got all the bandits up here we'll be golden. Oh, and leave a clone to guard the stairs, so they don't come out the other end. Otherwise we'll be flushing the caverns back and forth."

"On it," Fiona says. "Want a sword? We're in closer quarters here."

"Nah, my axe and dagger'll work. Why don't you get illusions to corral the bandits into one spot so we can use AEs effectively? If we do that, just stick an illusionary sword in the ground for when I need it."

"Good idea." Immediately, illusions pop up and run off. "Where to?"

"The place where we normally need to go to get the medicine for Andrew in the level ten quest," Tiffany instructs. "Not exactly there, but on the next-nearest platform. It's rather large."

"They won't be as squishy, using an AE you know. You're not stabbing them in the heart there."

"Ehh, it's fine." Tiffany dismisses it. "They'll be wounded, crippled and bleeding. If you're worried, I can call up Gwahir instead of Beorn. He slashes and bleeds even more than I do."

Fiona does the thumbs-up, and Tiffany deactivates Beorn.

As they approach the landing where all the bandits are corraled, Tiffany smirks. " **Time to have ourselves a bandit cleansing."**

" **Let's go**." Fiona smiles, bouncing energy orbs, greatswords, and pushing the bandits back into a tighter pack before doing her AEs, while Tiffany rains arrows down and throws knives and axes in spread patterns. Fiona creates a greatsword and sticks it in the woodwork of the platform for Tiffany to grab when she is ready.

Tiffany has one knife left, and her arm is sore from shooting, so she uproots the sword and charges.

In the midst of this, the weak clones had been replaced with more powerful phantasms, and Gwahir was slashing and bleeding bandits all over the place.

It was mayhem for about ten minutes, before all the bandits were dead.

"Got any of the bandits higher in the ranks?" Tiffany asks.

"Nope. Just regular old softies here, is my guess."

"Wonder if any escaped?"

"If they did, they'll spread terror among the rest, which is what we want."

"Yep. Now for the fun - burning the bandits supplies so they can't return. Any explosives around?"

"Explosive'd bring the cave down on our heads."

"Not if it's got a ranged detonator," Tiffany smirks. "I like explosions, plus if we collapse the cave they won't even be able to rebuild. I wont try to collapse the cave, but it's better and less time-consuming than torching the place."

"Let's go then," Fiona says, shattering her clones and Tiffany's greatsword. Tiffany deactives Gwahir and calls Beorn.

"aha! There's the explosives," Tiffany says. "Tonn showed me how fun exploding things can be. I'll not make a career out of it, like he did, because I prefer being a ranger, but it's still fun."

"I agree, when it's not dangerous," Fiona replies as Tiffany set the detonator timer on the explosives near the main supports of the platforms.

"This fire'll spread, and we won't have to torch everything. Let's move out." Tiffany says, grinning.

As they exit the cave, Tiffany blinks.

"It's late! It's a good thing Mat and Ayla's mom was with them, to take them home at the right time. I hope they didn't miss us."

Just then, a muffled boom along with a dust cloud explodes from the mouth of the cave.

"Well, at least the entire thing didn't collapse," Fiona observes when the dust clears.

"Let's see what happened," Tiffany says, re-entering the cave. "Ooh, look at that."

The platforms the bandits had built all over the cave were blown in the middle, flames are licking their way along the beams, and burning brands had dropped among the food supplies.

Tiffany Fiona high-five. "Good days' work, eh?" Tiffany says.

"Oh, certainly. Let's tell Cassie the bandits won't bother her."

"You got rid of all those bandits?" the farmer says. "That's impressive. It did take you all day, though."

"Oh, certainly. That's one of the bandits' main hideouts. We found some of their explosives and burned their setup down, so it'll be a long while before they can start up terrorizing people here again."

"Thank you! Oh, and there was a little boy asking about you two. I told him you went into the caves, and he wanted to go after you, but I told him no. He hung around to try and help out, but I think he went home. He didn't go in the cave, though. I'm sure of that."

"How could he have followed us here?" Tiffany asks, puzzled.

Fiona hit herself on the forehead. "My illusion! It must not have shattered when I told it to, and waited until I shattered another time. It would have followed the path I took down here."

"I didn't see an illusion," the farmer says puzzledly.

"It's fine. Er, what's your name again?" Tiffany says, remembering they shouldn't know her name yet.

"I'm Cassie. And you are?"

"I'm Fiona, and this is my sister Tiffany."

"Well, you should be getting on home, it is late."

"See you! We'll probably be by tomorrow to make sure all the bandits' stuff in the cave is gone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed I made several references to the Harry Potter universe in this chapter, but that's because I'm making this realistic. I don't mean any copyright infringement... and if you read Harry Potter, check out my other fanfictions on this site, same account. They've been discontinued, but feel free to check 'em out.  
> Anyway... I've got subplot extraordinaire started this chapter, ooh boy. See if you can find out what its goal is before the level ten quest chapter! Or after that.  
> And please, please, reviews! Even if it's just a simple 'it's a really great story' I'd love it! Constructive criticism is welcomed.  
> And I know, I know, I'm terrible with keeping up tense. I'll switch between saying 'he said' and 'he says' and I am horrible at correcting it before I post it. I'm going to fix the other chapters. I'm trying to keep this present tense, but the past always sneaks up on me.


	5. Prisoner of the Bandits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiffany and Fiona discover that Mat is missing, and try to find him. (Sorry, any more summary would mean spoilers!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlike the other chapters, this one is a direct continuation of the previous one, starting right where it left off.  
> You may be wondering when Tiffany and Fiona eat. I know, it seems they just do their thing and never eat. It all happens in the in-between spaces that I don't write, because it's nowhere near important. If eating a certain meal becomes important, I probably will include it. It's lucky I have them sleep, as it is. Lucky for me and for you, because I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have days to separate things by.  
> And yes, the chapter name is a reference to Prisoners of the Dragon in the Heart of Thorns storyline.

_From chapter four: Bandits in Trouble_

_"I'm Cassie. And you are?"_

_"I'm Fiona, and this is my sister Tiffany."_

_"Well, you should be getting on home, it is late."_

_"See you! We'll probably be by tomorrow to make sure all the bandits' stuff in the cave is gone."_

Tiffany and Fiona walk away, heading back to Eda's orchard, just to be sure that Mat, Ayla and Katherine had left.

"So, we gonna hit the Beggar's Burrow tomorrow?" Tiffany asks Fiona. "Or wait for another time?"

"Beggar's Burrow is the bandit hideout behind the graveyard, right?" Fiona confirms.

"Yep. It's not nearly so big a place as those caverns back there, but it's where Big Nose Ted's top liutenants stay - you know, Deadeye Della, Uptown Johnny, and Blaize. He's the one that likes blowing things up."

"Wasn't that Tonn?" Fiona mumbles under her breath.

"Oh, that's somebody else." Tiffany replies. "Of course, there are just normal bandits in there, to help fight off the Seraph - or us - if they come, but not nearly so big. We won't be able to blow that up, though, I don't know where Blaize's stashed his explosives, and we could bring the whole edge of the cliff falling down into Lake Delavan."

"If Ayla and Mat want to go back to Eda's - and Eda lets them - we can tackle that," Fiona agreed. "If not, though, we'll come back here, one of us will check out how well the caves fared against the explosion and burning, and help out Cassie. Then, we'll ask Cassie if she knows anyone that needs help, and if she doesn't, then we'll start helping out on the centaur front, hopefully. Starting with Shaemoor garrison."

"Cool. Now, what do you think about Mat following us down here and asking Cassie if she needs any help, and disappearing?"

"Probably what it is - my clone didn't shatter on schedule, Mat followed it down here, and wanted to help us. He probably got bored helping Cassie, though, and either went back home or to Eda's."

"Mat's got enough sense not to wander away, at least no farther than we came."

"Yeah. He's like six, he's got enough sense."

As they approach Eda's house, they see Katherine, Eda, and Ayla outside.

"Hey guys. Where's Mat?" Fiona asks.

"That's what we were wondering!" Katherine says.

"The only thing we know is that he followed one of Fiona's clones down to Cassie's moa ranch, hung around there for a bit, and disappeared. Cassie thinks he went home, which is probably what he did - the novelty of waypointing on his own would be too irresistible for him."

"Yeah, probably. Let's go!"

Ayla happily shut her eyes and disappears with small flash of blue.

"We'll just walk home, Katherine, if you don't mind." Tiffany says.

"Oh, no problem. We'll probably be in bed by the time to get to Shaemoor, though, so don't bother checking in. I'm sure we'll find Mat." Katherine replies, disappearing with a flash of blue.

"Where did you go?" Eda asks curiously.

"We cleaned out the bandits from the Bandithaunt Caverns, to the south. We blew up their wooden platforms, and now everything in there's burning. It'll be a nice long while before the bandits can get settled there again."

"How did you do that?"

"I went invisible, sneaked up behind them, and stabbed them through the heart. Then we got them all in one place and rained arrows, energy balls and phantasms on them. The whole organization collapsed like a dominoe house." Tiffany shrugs.

"What's a dominoe?" Eda asks, confused.

Tiffany shoots a panicked glance at Fiona, indicating she is panicked with a quirk in her mouth, rather than letting Eda see she is panicked - recipe for disaster.

Fiona steps in. "It's a type of wood block, about this small, and really smooth. Tiffany liked building toy houses with them when we were little, and then I'd touch it and it would come crumbling down, because they're so smooth the slightest jolt knocks one down. We would also stand them on end all in a row, and then knock over the first one, which would hit the second one, which would hit the third one, and so on. And it looked really cool."

"Where'd you find them?"

"I made them." Tiffany says. "I was learning how to use a knife back then, and I like carving things. I made the wooden blocks, and then Fiona made them really smooth, and we called them dominoes."

"Those sound fun," Eda say. "Well, I'll let you be on your way."

"See you!" Fiona waves.

They walk in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the twilight and the quiet.

"That was a close call, with the dominoes." Tiffany says after a while. "Let's not do that again."

"Why did you say 'made them really smooth' instead of 'used sandpaper to make them really smooth'?"

"I don't know if Tyrians have heard of sandpaper," Tiffany replies grimly.

Fiona winces. "We've got to watch out for  _sandpaper_?"

"Sandpaper, bah. I'm not worried about sandpaper. I'm worried about other things - do they know what a level is? Eda didn't ask how we made it smooth, so either Tyrians have some well-known way that isn't sandpaper, or they do use sandpaper, or Eda's not curious enough to ask. Or she's perceptive enough to know we made it up, and..."

"Tiffany, let's just enjoy the quiet. Please. We got a nice big job done today, let's focus on that."

"Okay."

They walk in silence for a few minutes.

Tiffany takes a deep breath of the night air. "I just love this air, at night. Just a touch of chill, enough to be refreshing without making me cold, you know?"

"Yep. And apparently, Krytans don't get snow. It's essentially the beginning of January, and it feels like new spring."

"Yeah, all the snow's busy up in the Shiverpeaks. They're called the  _Shiver_ peaks for a reason."

Both girls laugh.

"It's not cold, but I feel like I wouldn't be surprised to see snowflakes falling. It's a bright-ish night, the moon's out..." Fiona starts.

"Wonder if they have werewolves here?" Tiffany asks, peering at the full moon.

"I doubt it. Not full-moon werewolves, anyway." Fiona laughs.

"Probably not. Not if this is Tyria as we know it."

When they arrive in Shaemoor, they go straight to their room at the inn.

"So, Beggar's Burrow tomorrow?" Fiona asks sleepily, later that night.

"If Ayla and Mat want to go to Eda's again," Tiffany mumbles.

* * *

The next day, Tiffany and Fiona wake early, ready to start the new day.

"Let's go pick up Mat and Ayla," Tiffany says. "Come on!"

"Mesmers need to take more prep than you do."

"Really? Like what?"

"If it wasn't real, I'd be meditating for my mantras," Fiona retorts. "As it is, I have to meditate for my mantras. Why don't you carve those dominoes you said you did? In case Eda asks?"

"Fine, fine." Tiffany grumbles. "How - "

"Worry about making them smooth after you've made them," Fiona interrupts. "Now, don't bother me. It's most inefficient."

An hour later, Tiffany had ten 'dominoes'. "Ten should be good," she mumbles under her breath. "Now, to make them smooth."

"Rub it on another bit of wood, should work like sandpaper," Fiona mutters.

"Great idea," Tiffany says.

Half an hour later, the 'dominoe set' was done, and Fiona was done with her mind resting.

"How come you don't need that sort of prep every morning?"

"I generally get it by sleeping, but we got to bed late last night, and early this morning."

"I see," Tiffany nods. "Now, let's go get Mat and Ayla!"

When they arrive at the house, however, no one is home.

 _Knock knock_. Sounds on the door as Tiffany knocks. Nobody answers.  _Knock knock_.

"They must not be home?" Fiona says slowly, turning it into a question.

"I suppose, but even their parents?" Tiffany replies, puzzled. "And where would they go?"

The pair go back to the inn.

"There's Katherine," Tiffany says, nodding in her direction.

Katherine is talking to somebody, and seems frantic.

"Katherine?" Tiffany asks when she gets close enough. "Is something wrong?"

"Mat's missing! He disappeared yesterday and we thought he'd gone home, but he wasn't home! We thought he might be walking back for fun, and that he'd just be home late, but he never got home!"

"Mat's missing?" Tiffany and Fiona say together. "We'll go look where we know he was last, investigate more thoroughly. Hopefully he left some trace behind."

The pair waypoint to Eda's orchard and run down to Cassie's farm.

"You sure you can find him?" Fiona asks.

"Hey, the reason they called rangers rangers before they were a game class was because they were hunters, not because they used ranged weapons, but because the range from their house to where they were was so huge." Tiffany says sarcastically. "No, I'm not sure I can find him, even though I should be able to 'cause I'm a  _ranger_. Remember OOTS? Belkar didn't use a bow, he used daggers, and Roy hired him to be the tracker. It's part what rangers are famous for, but I didn't learn tracking, either on Earth or in Tyria."

"Well, do your best." Fiona says worriedly, as they arrive at Cassie's ranch.

"Cassie!" Tiffany shouts. "We can't find Mat!"

"Who?" the girl says puzzledly.

"The boy who was here yesterday. You said he certainly didn't go in the cave?"

"Sure and certain he didn't, ma'am," she replies. "He was over by those bushes, there, around the mouth of the cave."

Tiffany and Fiona approach the mouth of the cave, carefully searching for footprints.

After a few minutes, Tiffany stands up with a growl. "I'm no tracker. I can't track anything! Ugh, if only we had a true Ranger here."

"What's a true Ranger?" Fiona asks.

"Someone like Aragorn, from the Lord of the Rings." Tiffany says, flopping down on the grass. "Legolas - or maybe it was Gimli? Somebody - said he could read a bent blade of grass. Seemed true, too. You only read the first book, right?"

"Yeah... Strider?"

"Yes, Strider. Remember him?"

"Yep."

" _He_  was a true Ranger, remember when Frodo was stabbed by the... whatever-they're-called Black Riders? He found those plants to tide him over to Rivendell. And he could track wonderfully, he lived in the wild. That's the sort of person who's a true Ranger. And I'm not one of them, so I can't find Mat!"

"We'll use logic, then." Fiona says calmly. "What  _could_  have happened?"

"A moa could have pecked him to death and eaten him." Tiffany replies flatly.

"Ugh, you know what I mean!" Fiona says exasperatedly.

"No, really! That just shows what all could've happened. He could've got pulled into Earth the way we got pulled into Tyria, to replace us."

"I see." Fiona says dryly. "So, what reasonable thing could have happened to him?"

Tiffany thought for a moment. "I don't know!" she groans at last, throwing her hands up in the air.

"So, maybe he tried to get home, but got lost. Let's go straight from here to Shaemoor, and see if we see anything." Fiona replies calmly. "There's no use getting upset."

"Fine. I don't suppose mesmers have some sort of magic detecting thing?"

"Nope." Fiona says cheerfully.

"Oh, but necromancers do! They can at least tell where another necromancer was a minute ago."

"But that's a minute ago, and this is yesterday, and Mat's not a necromancer."

Tiffany sits for a moment, thinking. "A straight line from here to Shaemoor village, if it kept going, would touch the edge of Divinity's Reach."

"Which side?" Fiona asks. "I mean, what's it right next to?"

"It's right next to - Fiona, it's right next to Beggar's Burrow!" Tiffany bounced upright like a spring. "If a bandit escaped the caverns, he'd go there! The only exit from the caverns is right here, where Mat was!"

"Tiffany!" Fiona says in a high-pitched voice. "You think a bandit captured Mat?"

"Only one way to find out," Tiffany says, vanishing in a puff of blue. Fiona vanishes the same moment.

* * *

They appear at the waypoint already running, down the road that normally leads to Shaemoor garrison, before turning left and tearing through the graveyard that the bandit camp is situated behind.

Tiffany knocks on the door.

"Password?" a muffled voice asks.

"Let me in or I'll nail your tongue to a tree!" Tiffany replies fiercely, using a line she'd used once before when convincing a bandit that she was also a bandit.

"Okay, okay," grumbles the voice.

The door opens.

"Bad day for you, Switch," Tiffany says. She vaults over him, spins around, and put him in a chokehold. Right arm around his neck in a V, holding him close to her. Right hand on her left arm, her left hand bent back so her hand touched her shoulder before clasping the back of his head, was the normal chokehold. All she had to do was tense up and push his head forwards, and he'd choke to death if she held it long enough. Instead of her hand on his head, however, she held a knife to the side of his throat.

"What have you done with the boy," she snarls in his ear.

Switch is trembling in terror. He is too afraid to speak.

The steel edge of the knife touches the bandit's throat, and he yelps in surprise.

A commotion is heard down the stairwell. Tiffany's knife presses onto the bandit's throat.

"What have you done with the boy," she repeats slowly.

"T-they t-took him away!" the bandit says, trembling in fear.

"Switch, you idiot!" comes a shout from down the stairwell.

Tiffany doesn't move, even though she has her back to the voice. Fiona is facing that direction.

Fiona raises her eyebrows at the man behind Tiffany.

"If you draw your weapons, I'll kill him." Tiffany growls. She hears the cock of a pistol. The knife slashes outwards, putting a large cut in the man's throat, before she spins around him, letting him take the shot of the handgun, and stabbing him in the heart.

Her knives vanish up her sleeves, and a moment later the string is drawn on her bow and she is aiming between the bandit's eyes. Fiona is bouncing a ball of energy in her hand, with two illusions behind her in a V formation, doing the same. She is careful to ensure they aren't in sync with the bouncing, as that would just look fake.

"Ready to risk your own life as readily as you risked your friend's?" Tiffany asks. "Tell me where you took the boy."

"Nobody knows! Jake and his crew came back last night and took him away!" the bandit yelps.

"Be glad you escaped with your life," Tiffany snarls. She turns and sprints out the door. Fiona creates an illusion of Mat, and shatters all but one of her other clones, before following Tiffany.

The one clone that wasn't Mat points at the bandit's weapon, and then at Mat. An illusion appears of the bandit, which the clone annihilates. The message is clear - harm the boy, and you are all dead. It is even more potent with the fact it is an illusion doing it, and the mesmer controlling them is nowhere around, showing her power. The bandit gulps and runs down to the main cave.

The illusions shatter.

* * *

Jake is fuming. He, Della and Johnny had gone down to the caves yesterday evening, to find the girls admiring their explosive handiwork. Johnny had been ready to go in and teach them a lesson, but Jake had held him back.

"They just took out the whole of this hideout, Johnny, and are skilled enough with explosives not to bring down the cavern. Let's just listen,"

"I can take a shot at them," Della offered.

"Naw, you might hit one of the clones," Jake snarled. "Then we'd have to fight them anyway."

"I'll shoot the one that hasn't got any clones." Della said dryly.

"If she's as smart as she looks, there's only one girl with clones of herself and a made-up illusion of somebody else," Jake growled. "Let's just watch and listen."

"Fine," the other two grumbled.

The 'two' girls had just finished having a conversation with the moa rancher. They'd mentioned the boy Jake had taken prisoner.

"Let's follow them," Jake whispered. "Might drop some valuable intel."

"So, we gonna hit the Beggar's Burrow tomorrow?" one girl asked the other. "Or wait for another time?"

Jake tensed.

"Beggar's Burrow is the bandit hideout behind the graveyard, right?" the other confirmed.

"Yep. It's not nearly so big a place as those caverns back there, but it's where Big Nose Ted's top liutenants stay - you know, Deadeye Della, Uptown Johnny, and Blaize. He's the one that likes blowing things up."

The other girl mumbled something under her breath.

"Oh, that's somebody else." the other girl replied. "Of course, there are just normal bandits in there, to help fight off the Seraph - or us - if they come, but it's not nearly so big. We won't be able to blow that up, though, I don't know where Blaize's stashed his explosives, and we could bring the whole edge of the cliff falling down into Lake Delavan."

"If Ayla and Mat want to go back to Eda's - and Eda lets them - we can tackle that," agreed the other. "If not, though, we'll come back here, one of us will check out how well the caves fared against the explosion and burning, and help out Cassie. Then, we'll ask Cassie if she knows anyone that needs help, and if she doesn't, then we'll start helping out on the centaur front, hopefully. Starting with Shaemoor garrison."

"Cool. Now, what do you think about Mat following us down here and asking Cassie if she needs any help, and disappearing?"

"Probably what it is - my clone didn't shatter on schedule, Mat followed it down here, and wanted to help us. He probably got bored helping Cassie, though, and either went back home or to Eda's."

The bandits fell back.

"Those girls are all set to bust the boy out!" Jake growled.

"Why are you so set on keeping the boy?" Della asked him.

"Because it gives us leverage over the people who blew up our operations this side of Shaemoor. Also, if we can ransom him out, that'd give us a pretty penny."

"Good thinking. Let's get back to the Burrow and get the boy out. Where do we take him?"

"I'm thinking more south."

"What, that place by the waterworks?"

"No, you idiot, thats' still in Shaemoor! We need out, out of Shaemoor. I was thinking that outpost led by whats-his-name, Goff."

"Where's he at?"

"Remember that place north of Triskell Quay, that mine we helped raid a couple months ago?"

"Yep."

"Goff's got his setup in a cave north and just a tad south of that, and they've got prisoners, already. Bought 'em off the centaurs, but won't ransom 'em. They're slaves, which is as good a place for a nice healthy boy as I can think of," Jake chuckled. "Ol' Goff knows what he's doin' in this business."

"Let's go get 'im there, then. They're hitting the Burrow tomorrow."

"I'll escort 'em down, personally. You can help defend the encampment, oh and Ted should be back by tomorrow."

"Cool. Want any backup taking the lad?"

"Naw. I'm gonna drug him and pretend to be a farmer trundling down the road to Triskell Quay, only I'll stop short. I'll set up an arrangement with Goff for a bandit 'attack' so any bystanders don't suspect me." he smirked.

"You've got a cool head on your shoulders, Jake," Della said. "Let's execute the plan, then."

"Boy!" Jake snarled. "Time to eat." he shoved a bowl of gruel at Mat, before turning and walking away.

Mat didn't want to eat it, but he was hungry. It'd been most of the day he'd been in here, and no food.

After a while, his hunger overcame him and he ate the gruel. It tasted so horrible he almost stopped, but he was very hungry. It was also very salty, and Mat drank all the water that had come with the 'meal'.

He cautiously left the bowl by the flap Jake had passed it in through, and retreated to the back of the cage again.

It was late and he was tired, so he curled up on the hard ground and tried to sleep. It wasn't as hard as he'd thought, and he nodded off soon after.

Half an hour later, Jake came back. He peered in at the sleeping Mat and smiled nastily. He undid the rusty lock on the cage and pushed the bowl he'd given the boy earlier out of the way. Jake hauled him up the steps and dumped him in a cart he kept on hand for operations like this, and covered him with the sorts of things a farmer might carry.

"Hey, Della! Scare the old man out of this graveyard," Jake shouted back.

Della blew a long-winded horn that sounded like the wailings of ghosts. The gravekeeper started and hurried off.

"The ol' man knows when the spirits are around to clear out." Jake chuckled to himself. "Not that ol' ghost that hovers 'round here at night, naw, the really mad spirits that live in that cave,"

He pushed the cart down to the road, and then went back to the cave for his farmer disguise.

When he came out again, nobody could tell he was a bandit. By this time, Blaize had got back with some cows from a farmer's field to pull the cart with. He hitched up the team and got started, biting his lip nervously. This part of the journey was always the hardest, especially the route he was taking - through the Shaemoor garrison.

It went smoothly, this time, and he got going in earnest. He gingerly took the left path where it forked. He didn't like this path, because it went through that horrid swamp with creatures from the Underworld, but it was the fastest route to Goff's place.

Jake was fuming through all of this, because if Blaize hadn't argued long and hard over whether or not and who to send to assist their fellows. their hideout southwest of Shaemoor wouldn't be ruined. That had been an exceptional hideout, large enough that no Seraph ever tried to clear it out. But that was their main mustering ground of bandits - the main hideout, where all the bandits who just followed orders lived. They were useful, and constituted the main body of bandits.

He was cursing everything for that loss. He isn't the one responsible for those bandits, but he is high enough in the chain of command to know what a loss all those bandits are.

He is so out of it that he stops by the monastery to have a good long drink, especially since he is about to enter the Godslost Swamp, and he can't do that without some wine in him. That monastery gets a whole lot more business, being on the edge of the swamp there, than they would've otherwise.

While Jake is in the process of getting drunk, Mat wakes up. He is buried in what seems like a farmer's cart. Mat is relieved to note he is no longer in the bandit's care, although he does wonder how that came about.

He peeks through a crack in the boards near the bottom of the cart, but can't see anything except grass. It seems to be late at night, however, maybe even midnight.

He is still tired. He wonders why, as he had several hours of sleep. He shrugs it off and curls up more comfortably in the bottom of the cart, pillowing his head on his arms. He soon dozes off.

He wakes up again to harsh voices.

"Look, d'ya wanna take him or not?" somebody says in an exasperated tone.

"Fine, I'll take him. He in that cart?" says another.

"Yup. 'ere, I'll wake him up." the first person says, and Mat hears the stuff that's piled around him get shifted as he shoves things aside.

"How'd he sleep?"

"Drugged him," the first man grunts. "Aha - oh, you're awake already," Jake tells Mat. "Well, up an outta here, fella."

Mat realizes that he was  _not_  out of the bandits clutches, and tries to run.

"Oh no yer don't," said a big, burly man. He grabs Mat's arm and pulls him closer. "Yer mine now," he growls. "And doncha think of running off."

"Seeya, Goff." Jake says. "I need to get back to Shaemoor, but I might be along sometime." Jake waves and starts off again.

"Get in that there cage," the man identified as Goff grunts at Mat, pointing. Another bandit opens the cage and Mat is shoved forwards. He sprawls on his face in the dust, and the cage door slams shut.

Mat scrambles to his feet and runs to the door of the cage. He seems to be in another cave, like the last one but bigger and more developed. The large cage he is in is part of a square of other large cages, containing other people. There is a gap that seems to be a pathway, and there is a fire a little ways beyond that, with bandits sitting around it.

Mat hears a pained sigh from the cage next to him. He peers through the slats that made up the cages, to see a woman that could have been in her forties, but is probably younger.

"They're locking up children now," she sighs softly. "What's wrong with them?"

"I don't know," Mat says. "I just got grabbed out of where I was standing, brought to some hideout, and then here."

"Shh!" the woman whispers. "If you're too loud, they come over and whip you." then she sighs again. "They'll whip you anyway, but they'll do it longer and harder if you're too loud."

Mat's shoulders slump, and he looks back at the campfire around which the bandits are sitting with a new fear, and retreats to the back of the cage.

He wonders if Tiffany and Fiona are coming. They probably won't know he's been captured until tomorrow - unless it already is tomorrow? Mat scratches his head. Either way, they'd need to find him first. He sighs.

* * *

"Where can they have taken him?" Tiffany asks in despair. She and Fiona are at Katherine's house, with Ayla, Katherine and Richard. They are sitting around the table. They'd told the worried parent's what they'd found out about where Mat'd been taken.

"Who knows?" Ayla says sorrowfully. "But you won't give up, will you?"

"Of course not." Tiffany declares, standing up. "We'll keep the search going. Nobody in the Beggar's Burrow knows where he was taken, except this Jake fellow and his crew. Now, it's really hard to get through that graveyard carrying a boy and not be seen, so let's ask Dumpy, the gravekeeper."

"Good thought!" Fiona says. "Let's go."

"I'll come with you." Katherine agreed. "I'm aquainted with him."

"Great."

"Hello, Katherine." calls the gravekeeper. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm helping these two find my son," she replies gravely.

"Your son's not dead, is he?" the gravekeeper asks.

"No," Tiffany says. "At least, we hope not. Did anything strange happen last night?"

"Well, the angry spirits came out in their cave back there a bit," he says, nodding behind him. "I might be friendly with the Lady in White, but I ain't got no call to go capering around with them spirits."

"Sir," Fiona steps forwards. "I'm afraid your 'spirits' are a gang of bandits."

"How can that be?" he says. "Sounds just like angry spirits back there," he turns to squint at the cave.

"There are horns that can be enchanted to sound like ghosts. They're generally only used around Halloween, though."

"I know what those horns sound like," Dumpy dismisses it. "This sounded... different."

"It's probably old," Katherine says dryly.

"Besides, I went in there earlier today, and there were at least a couple bandits." Tiffany offers. "What time last night did it happen?"

"Oh, a while after dark."

"Thanks for you information, sir." Fiona replies. "We'll be going now."

Back at the house, Tiffany slumps in her chair again. "A while after dark! Fiona, you know what this means? He could be past Triskell Quay by now, if he didn't stop for sleep!"

"And if he did?"

"He'd still be in... that area of Kryta." Tiffany says, mindful of Katherine and Richard. "And that's if he went in that direction."

"So, what do we do now?" Ayla asks despairingly.

"I doubt he could've got Mat to come willingly," Katherine says. "And I doubt he'd tie him up and walk, that would attract too much attention. What would he do?"

"He's a bandit, who could he pass as?"

"If I were trying to sneak a prisoner out of somewhere, I'd load him on a cart and pretend to be a farmer," Richard speculates.

"Daddy," Ayla sighs, exasperated. "I don't think a big bad bandit would pretend to be a farmer."

"No, no, it's a valid theory, Ayla. Farmers have carts going all over the place."

"And if he was pretending to be a farmer, he'd stay on the road." Fiona puts in.

"The only road that goes anywhere is through the Shaemoor garrison." Katherine tells them. "Shaemoor is fenced in otherwise, by Lake Delavan to the east, mountains to the west and southwest, and Divinity's Reach to the north. The road through Shaemoor garrison is the only route he could have taken."

"Let's ask around there, then." Tiffany says, slamming her palm on the table. "Let's go! We can split up and talk to everybody.

At the garrison, Tiffany makes a beeline for Donald, a recruiter for the Seraph. He is also a scout.

"Hello there," he says cheerfully. "Any questions about the area?"

"Not the area, but the people in the area." Tiffany replies, glancing around. "Did you see a farmer coming through here late last night?"

"Listen, girl - the only reason I remember this farmer was because he was acting nervous and shady-like. He didn't know his oxen. Had trouble directing them. That screams 'stolen' to me. And it was late. I told my buddies, but they didn't listen, and I wasn't gonna attack him alone. If you're looking for your father, or your husband, I doubt it was him."

"No, I'm looking for a bandit that kidnapped my friend." Tiffany says stoutly. "He definitely came through here, then?"

"You can ask other people if they saw him."

"Thanks for your information, sir." Tiffany says.

She meets up with the others in the middle of the square formed by the walls of the garrison. "Recruiter Donald saw a shady-looking farmer pass through here, and thinks he stole the oxen that was puling the cart, late last night."

"The other Seraph either weren't on the guard shift last night, or thought that Donald was crazy." Katherine says.

"Donald seems perceptive enough for me, I'll trust him." Fiona says thoughtfully. "I overheard your conversation, Tiff. If anyone's that perceptive, they weren't hallucinating."

"Recruiter Donald's been here for a long time," Richard says. "I don't think he has hallucinations, and I doubt he'd mislead you."

"Let's follow this bandit's trail, then." Tiffany declares. "Come on."

"Wait - Tiffany." Katherine says softly. "It's late. I want to find Mat too, but we need our sleep, and if we go all the way to Altar Brook, which is the next place there's any people, we won't be back in time for dark. We can go after Mat tomorrow."

"Then that's what we'll do. Make sure you get a good night's sleep tonight, Fiona. I don't want to loiter for an hour and a half like today."

"I know, I know," Fiona grumbles.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how do you like it? Do any of you recognize the setup of the bandit cave that Mat's in? If you do, then you know probably what's going down.


	6. The Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiffany and Fiona's relations in the city need their help, and Mat needs rescuing. Can Tiffany and Fiona do both without anyone getting hurt? And what about the _other_ bandits?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will start out from Petra's persepctive, at the inn. You'll know who she is, if you ever played a human commoner.  
> I invedted a bandit - Jake - to kidnap Mat. Now, I chose Jake because it's a good name for a bandit. But then, reading through the level ten commoner questline again, I realized there's another bandit, Twitchy Jake, that fits my Jake. So I'm making them one and the same, because there's no evidence to the contrary yet. Nobody's called him Twitchy Jake for the same reason that no bandits have called Della Deadeye Della.

Petra is worried.

Earlier, about midafternoon, a large, ugly man had come into the tavern demanding drinks, and becoming louder and louder with each successive drink. Nobody else seemed to have noticed, but soon after he came in, others came in, one by one, and just hung around. She wishes that Tiffany and Fiona were here - they had effectively taken on the job of being the tavern's live-in guards years ago, and would have stopped this long before it got this far. It was now rather late - almost evening.

As it is, he's loud and, if not violent, certainly close. He loudly demands that she bring him a drink, but her father tells him he's had enough.

"Don't make me cripple you, old man. Gimme more ale, and this time, it's on the house."

"Father," Petra whispers to him, "just give him the ale, I'll call Tiffany and Fiona,"

Andrew pauses, and then gets the drink with a glare at the man - Petra had found out his name was Ted from conversations with his buddies.

Meanwhile, Petra slips upstairs and sends off a pre-prepared letter that she'd penned a long time ago, for Tiffany and Fiona's long trips to Ebonhawke, in case trouble happened at the end. It was suitably vague, so she could send it at any time and it be appropriate.

Then, she went softly back down the stairs to back up her father.

A few minutes later, Ted calls for more ale.

"Dad, Tiffany and Fiona are on the way," Petra whispers. "If he tries anything, they'll be here to stop it."

"I  _said_ , more ale!" Ted roars.

"No." Petra tells him. "You're drunk enough as it is."

"That's right," Andrew says. "Get out of my tavern, or I'll call the Seraph."

"The Seraph? They can't do anything!" Ted laughs. "If you're looking for a fight, though, I've got one right here. Boys! Get in here!" the big man points at her father. "And get him first."

"Stay back from my dad, you ugly goons!" Petra cries in panic.

Ted ignores her and strikes at Andrew. Andrew collapses on the floor while Ted runs off.

"What's going on here?" comes a voice from the door.

"Tiffany! Fiona!" Petra says in relief. "I'm so glad you're here! Those ugly goons hurt my father!"

"We'll deal with them," Tiffany says dangerously. "Where is the man that hurt Andrew?"

"They went upstairs!" Barbara cries.

"Got it," Tiffany says, and dashes up the staircase with Fiona on her heels.

"Whooee, these are real bandits!" Tiffany says, dodging hits from Uptown Johnny. "They're not softies like the ones southwest of Shaemoor."

"They're still weak, though." Fiona says when he surrenders. "Come on, let's get that Ted. We owe his gang for Mat."

"That's right, this is that gang, isn't it?" Tiffany says, getting a glint in her eye. "I'm coming for you, Big Nose Ted."

"Oh, this is Blaize, isn't it? The one who's explosives I used to detonate the bandit's operations in the Bandithaunt caverns."

"Oh yes. He's also the one who's hidden stashed of explosives will make it difficult to trash the Beggar's Burrow," Fiona adds.

Comments like these only serve to enrage the bandits, but it is entertaining watching them seeth.

"Who can hit the hardest?" Ted asks them when they defeat his other liutenants. "I can," he says, answering his own question and charging.

"Beorn, get him!" Tiffany commands. The large bear launches at Ted, pushing him back and giving Tiffany range.

When Ted gives up, the pair go down the ground floor, followed at a distance by the bandits they defeated.

A moment later, the tall form of Commander Serentine appears in the doorway. Tiffany is surprised, but doesn't move.

"Bandits, thieves, and brawlers: by order of the Ministry Guard, you're all under arrest!" Serentine orders, stepping into the inn to make way for officers of the Ministry Guard.

"They started it," Tiffany says levelly. "Was I supposed to do,  _not_  defend my friend?"

"Commander Serentine, what is the meaning of this?" comes a voice from the doorway. "What are you doing here?" Tiffany sees it's Captain Thackeray.

"Nice of you to show up, Captain." Serentine says sarcastically. "I'm here keeping the peace, something you and your Seraph can't seem to do."

"Thanks to your interference. Go ahead, but there's no way I'm letting you take the heros who fought beside me at Shaemoor garrison."

"Now who's interfering?" Serentine says dryly, but doesn't resist it. "Guards! Take the rest of these to prison."

The Ministry Guard take the bandits away, and Serentine leaves.

"Captain?" Petra says. "Please, that ugly goon hurt my father. Can you help us?"

"Hmm. That looks nasty. It could take weeks to heal without the right medicine, and that medicine is expensive." Captain Thackeray says.

"Well, too bad." Tiffany says, seizing an opportunity, one not at once obvious. "We'll earn the money."

"Tiffany," Fiona starts, mindful of the other people in the room, but trying to get Tiffany to go with the flow of the normal storyline. "are you sure? ... We are in the middle of trying to find Mat."

"Important mission or not, I'm not abandoning Andrew. He's as much our father as Petra's."

"But Mat's been captured by bandits!" Fiona argues. "Are we just going to leave him there? What if they kill him?"

"I... I'm not abandoning my family." Tiffany says slowly, but inside she is at turns angry that she has to leave Mat behind - for now, and happy that her plan is working, "This wound looks fatal, it needs treatment! I'm  _not_  saying we abandon Mat, by any means, but this takes priority! We'll get back to him  _after_  we save Andrew. We can't just... just not do anything!"

"What about Ayla, Katherine, and Richard?"

"They can continue the mission until we get back, Fiona. I'm not going to abandon Andrew. But we  _will_  go back." she emphasizes.

Fiona sighs. "Is there any way you can help, Captain Thackeray?"

"I know Lieutenant Francis received a shipment of that medicine recently. Tell him I sent you and he'll give you the medicine you need."

"Thank you, Captain Thackeray!" Tiffany says happily. "We can get back to rescuing Mat that much sooner!"

"I'm glad you were here," he informs them. "This could have been much worse. Thanks for subduing the bandits until the Seraph could get here."

"Thanks for vouching for us. Tell me, how are these bandits so widespread?" Fiona asks, ignoring Tiffany.

"The Seraph are, unfortunately, stretched thin across Kryta, what with the centaurs and the bandits. That means the bandits are free to amass in places that don't get a Seraph patrol very often, until we can't subdue them in that area without a large squad."

"Me and my sister aren't Seraph, but, we're willing to help."

" _After_  we finish rescuing Mat," Tiffany puts in.

"Hey, you're the one that was ready to drop everything to run to Andrew's side," Fiona says angrily.

"That's because it's Andrew. He's family. But Mat is friends, and that's second to family. Helping the Seraph comes after that." Tiffany says firmly. "We're going to rescue Mat before we do anything else, after we finish helping Andrew."

"I like your dedication," Captain Thackeray says.

"We do our best, Captain." Tiffany replies.

"So, what's with you and the Commander?" Fiona asks. "You're both an agency protecting Kryta, or those within."

"Let's just say that me and Commander Serentine don't see eye to eye on certain points." Captain Thackeray sighs. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must be going."

"Alright." Tiffany says, turning away. "Fiona, come on. Let's get that medicine and then rescue Mat."

"Petra, you need help getting Andrew upstairs?" Fiona asks, ignoring Tiffany.

"No, I can get him. You go get that medicine!" she instructs.

"Let's go," Fiona says.

Both girls vanish with a puff of blue.

When they appear in Shaemoor, only a minute away from where Lieutenant Francis is, Fiona stops Tiffany.

"What was all that back there?" she demands.

Tiffany looks around cautiously. No one is around - it's late - but she lowers her voice anyway. "I told you how Destiny's Edge broke up?" Fiona nods. "I was trying to emphasize that it's not a problem to leave your mission to help family, or something like that, but that we do get back to our mission afterwards. It might help DE get back together."

"Ohh, I see." Fiona says, walking in the direction that Francis is. "No problem then. But we do still need to talk, when we're not busy."

When they reach Francis, Tiffany initiates conversation.

"Hello," Tiffany says.

"How may I help you, citizen?" Francis asks politely.

"Captain Thackeray said you could provide me with medical supplies?" Tiffany turns the statement into a question, knowing that the bandits had stolen those supplies.

"If Captain Thackeray sent you, you're welcome to the supplies," Francis shrugged. "Soldier, can you go pick up the medical supplies that were delivered the other day?" he says, turning to one of the soldiers.

"Yes, sir!" says the Seraph soldier, saluting. He walks into a small building nearby.

Tiffany is having a hard job concealing her surprise. Then, she remembers that she and Fiona had burned out the Bandithaunt caverns, there weren't any bandits to steal the supplies! She bites back a laugh.

When the soldier returns, he hands the box of supplies to Lieutenant Francis, before resuming the conversation he'd been having with his friend.

"Here, I doubt you'll need the whole thing," Francis says. "This should be enough to last you a while."

"I will," Tiffany promises. "Thanks! Come on, Fiona." Both girls vanish in a puff of blue.

"What - how did Francis have the supplies?" Fiona asks as they run from the main waypoint in the Salma district.

"We took down the bandits, remember?" Tiffany replied. "No bandits to steal them! And it's not like it was super-urgent, except for plotline. it was just bandits stealing stuff."

"Ahh, I see," Fiona says as they enter the tavern.

"Petra, we've got the supplies," Tiffany says. "Here, Andrew, drink this."

"It'll probably taste terrible, but it'll get you on your feet," Fiona interjected.

"Thanks, Tiffany, Fiona." Petra says. "And, can you thank Captain Thackeray for us?"

"Of course." Fiona tells her.

_**The next day...** _

"It's so nice having you back home," Petra commented at breakfast. "It's always lonely when you're gone."

"I miss you, too, while we're away." Fiona agrees.

Later, as Tiffany and Fiona are almost ready to leave, Captain Thackeray and another woman - whom Tiffany and Fiona knew to be Countess Anise - entered the tavern.

"Captain Thackeray! What are you doing here?" Fiona asks curiously.

"We came to check on the tavernkeeper... and on you. But, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce Countess Anise, Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade." Captain Thackeray responds.

"It's an honor, my lady." Fiona says.

"Any trouble getting those supplies?" the Captain asks.

"None at all, sir. Lieutenant Francis was very helpful."

"Good to hear," he responds. "How's your father?" he asks Petra.

"He's doing well. The medicine helped a lot." Petra answers. "It was nice of Tiffany and Fiona to go get the medince, even with how late it was."

"What else were we going to do?" Tiffany asks. "Wait until tomorrow? Not when we have to get back to finding Mat."

"I had been meaning to ask, what is up with Mat?" Petra asks. "He's one of those friends you made in Shaemoor, right?"

"Yep, him and Ayla. Me and Tiffany were clearing out the Bandithaunt Caverns, and Mat somehow tracked us down there. We concluded later that a bandit escaped the caves and kidnapped him. We went to their hideout in the Beggar's Burrow, but nobody there knew anything. Richard - Mat's father - speculated that if he was a bandit he'd disguise himself as a farmer, and but the boy in the bottom of the cart. We were just tracking him through the Shaemoor garrison when we realized it was late, and then your message came."

"And you were ready to just drop that for us, for Andrew?" Petra says, shocked.

"I'm  _not_  dropping it," Tiffany sighs. "Now that Andrew's okay, we're going out to look for him, double quick to make up for the time lost. You know, Katherine and Richard could already have looked over the next bit of road."

"Captain Thackeray, are there Seraph patrols along the road from Shaemoor garrison?" Fiona asks.

"Yes. I don't think they would have stopped a farmer, though." Captain Thackeray answers.

"But they would help provide security for if Katherine and and Richard were tracking them on their own while we were away. It would be a significant leg up the journey, I don't like the thought of Mat being held by any bandits for too long." Tiffany concludes. "We had decided to turn back for the day at Shaemoor garrison, because we couldn't make it all the way to Altar Brook and back before dark, but then we'd remembered about the waypoints. I don't know how we forgot, but then Petra's call came, and me and Fiona came here. I'm sure Katherine and Richard went on. They'll know if he passed through there, or turned left at the crossroads a little way back. And they've got a head start on us, this morning, because we had to wait for Fiona to meditate  _again_." she rolls her eyes.

"Hey, it's not my fault - "

"It's your fault you're a mesmer," Tiffany retorts, faking sternness. "In fact, it's your fault I'm a ranger."

"Is not!" Fiona exclaims. "It's your fault  _I'm_  a mesmer!"

"So, it's both of our faults that both of us are rangers and mesmers," Tiffany concludes.

"Right."

"Sorry about them," Petra says to Captain Thackeray. "They get into matches seeing who can pretend to maddest for the longest. It generally ends in a tie."

"Actually, it's rather... entertaining." Countess Anise says.

"It is, very." Andrew tells her and Captain Thackeray. "They get into spontaneous matches, and sometimes it's hard to tell when they're serious or not. I think even they get confused sometimes, so they agree it was a match and they weren't really angry, and it avoids a lot of fights that could be more serious."

"Either way, I'm a mesmer now, and I'm done meditating now, so we can go rescue Mat." Fiona finishes.

"So, Captain Thackeray, sorry for just leaving when you just got here, but we do need to go rescue Mat."

"Oh, no problem," Captain Thackeray replies. "Go rescue your friend."

"Bye!" Tiffany and Fiona say, before vanishing with a flash of blue.

They reappear in Shaemoor, and Ayla is there.

"Mom told me to tell you that she and Dad went on ahead, and are taking the eastern path today." Ayla tells them.

"Well, lets get going, then!" Fiona says cheerfully. "Waypoints are for the using, let's skip the walk and go to the garrison."

The three disappear in a cloud of blue dust, and pop up in the Shaemoor garrison.

"Let's go!" Tiffany says.

As they walk, Ayla asks them about their family.

"We needed to go back home because Petra was calling for help. Some bandits were attacking them."

"Was it the bandit that took Mat?"

"No, he wasn't there. Only his friends, and the Ministry Guard took them away before we could ask."

"That's too bad," Ayla says, disappointed. "So, what happened next?"

"Captain Thackeray showed up, and told Commander Serentine not to arrest us, because we're good guys. Then he let us use some of the Seraph's medicine to help Andrew, because he was hurt. We did that last night. Then, we went to bed. While we were getting ready to leave, Captain Thackeray showed up again, and this time he brought Countess Anise - she's the leader of the Shining Blade."

"Really?" Ayla looks at Tiffany and Fiona with wide eyes. "You talked to Countess Anise?"

"Yes."

"So, did you do anything last night?" Fiona asks. "After we were called away?"

"Yes. We asked the guy who saw the farmer guy at Shaemoor garrison for what exactly they looked like, and then went to Altar Brook, but nobody there had seen anybody that looked like that. That was the western path, and today we're doing east." Ayla responds, skipping along.

"Do you know what's east?"

"Oh, it's a long road is all I know."

"Hm."

They walk in silence for a long while.

"Hey, it's the... the... the whichever monastery!" Tiffany says. "I should've known."

"And there's your parents," Fiona tells Ayla.

"Katherine, Richard!" Tiffany calls.

"There you are!" they say. "We just got here. Want to go in and ask around?"

"Sure. Any intel from the people at Altar Brook?"

"This Jake person didn't pass through there, not by the description the recruiter back at the garrison gave us, and no farmers passed through at all in the time-frame we're looking at," Richard tells them.

"What is the description?"

"He's short - not very short, but just shorter than average, you know - reddish hair. The guy said he seemed to be of Ascalonian descent. " Katherine replies. "The recruiter described how he was dressed, but I doubt that matters, as it's a disguise. He kept his face covered, though."

"That should be enough to go on," Fiona says slowly.

"Well, let's ask these people here - what's the name of this place?" Tiffany asks.

"Eldvin Monastary."

"Eldvin!" Tiffany cries. "I knew it was something like that. Well, let's go on in."

The people at the monastery all remembered a man that fit Jake's description, and vividly recalled he stopped there late, the night before last, and got drunk. He did have an oxen-pulled cart with him, but they didn't think he was a farmer because of how he acted when drunk. When he left, he continued down the road to the swamp, and most likely through to Swamplost Haven.

The group of five thank the priestess who gave them this information, and continue on their way.

"I don't think the people studying this swamp will know about Jake," Tiffany says. "The road curves around most of all that, you know, nobody would have seen him. And from what the people at the monastery said, he was going in and was scared about it. He's a bandit, he probably hurried through as fast as he could."

"I agree." Richard says. "This is one cowardly bandit we're dealing with."

"You literally just called him a coward twice," Fiona observes. "I think cowardly is part of the description of a bandit."

"Well, he is a double-coward," Richard growls. "Most bandits have the sense to at least not capture children."

"Too true," Tiffany answers. "But he's also very stupid. Sure, getting drunk before coming in the swamp might help you do it, but it will actually make you less safe. This swamp is legitimately dangerous."

"What does legitimately mean?" Ayla pipes up.

"Just a moment, Ayla, then I'll answer your question," Tiffany responds. "This means we have to be on guard. Richard, do you know how to use a weapon?"

"I've got my rifle on me. What sorts of things will we be dealing with?"

"Mostly underworld creatures and skale. That should be a good weapon to go with."

"Great."

"Ayla, legitimately means it does actually, it's not just pretending. I was telling your dad that the swamp is actually very dangerous, and not just a joke."

"Ohh."

They get through the swamp with no mishaps and a trophy for Ayla. They'd let her have the fin of a skale they'd killed.

When they arrive at Swamplost Haven, one of the Lionguard nods with relief.

"I'm glad you have more sense than the last guy who came though," he tells them. "He arrived early in the morning, and you know how long it takes to travel that swamp. He did it in the middle of the night! You know how extra-dangerous that swamp is at night? He seemed to be recovering from drunkeness." the Lionguard shook his head.

"A farmer?" Katherine pounces. "With a cart?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"He's a rogue bandit who's kidnapped my son," Richard answers. "We're tracking him before anything can happen."

"He went right on through, hardly stopped. Early yesterday morning. I'd assume he went on to Black Haven, ask around there."

"Thanks for the help," Tiffany tells him. Then, she turns to the group. "It's getting late. It took Jake from midnight to early morning to get here, and it took us the same amount of time. Should we press on or turn back?"

"Press on," Richard says instantly. "We can waypoint back."

"Got it. Let's go." Katherine concludes.

The group press on through the haven to what Tiffany and Fiona know to be Kessex Hills. As they pass along the road, they see a man trying to wage war against the local bandits. When they ask him if a farmer passed through, he shrugged.

"Plenty of farmers pass through here. There was one yesterday morning, though, that these bandits left alone. Must be a spy or something."

"Who knows?" Fiona tells him. As they go on, Tiffany asks why she said that.

"I don't want to poison his mind against all farmers who pass through here, thinking they might be spies. So I didn't confirm his ideas."

"Good thinking. Hey look, there's another waypoint, and a crossroads."

"Black Haven is straight ahead," Richard says. "If he didn't stop there, we'll come back here."

"Good thinking." Katherine tells him.

A while later, they arrive at another crossroads.

"One over a bridge to Black Haven, the other to the right through centaur territory," Richard says. "Two evils, in a bandit's eyes."

"Actually, the bandits around here are friends with the centaurs, or at least allies," Tiffany says.

"By the Six! At least we don't have to deal with that in Shaemoor," Katherine says.

"But the Lionguard and the Seraph do," Richard reminds her. "People live out here, too."

"I think that Black Haven would be the lesser of two evils for Jake, in this situation," Tiffany says. "He's dressed up as a farmer, and no one's stopped him yet. And he wouldn't necessarily stop in Black Haven, the road runs past it for a ways, I think it gets to Shiverpeaks sometime, and maybe farther. It's a very main road, and no wonder it's patrolled by Lionguard. Either way, we just have to check in here to see if Jake's been here or not."

"Then we need to get home," Fionia adds. "It is really late."

"Yeah, lets hurry this up. Later we get started tomorrow, the worse."

Inside the haven, the Lionguard are harassed and had a short temper, and none of them remembered a farmer. However, the shady-looking fellow selling toxic fish might know something.

"Hey, you," Tiffany says, striding up to him boldly.

"What do you want?" he snarls.

"If you're trying to sell your fish, you might take on a less toxic personality... and stock," Fiona says, glancing over his displayed wares and wrinkling up her nose. "We're not here about that, though. We want to know if you saw a farmer come through here the other day."

"I watch people a lot, but there's not much to go by when you say 'farmer'. I also have a poor memory, but I could try to remember..." the fishmonger says in a suggestive tone.

"He seems to be of Ascalonian descent, and can't control his oxen," Katherine says. "and - "

"We're not terribly interested in finding him," Tiffany says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We'd just like to know where he is, for the sake of knowing. Perhaps I could tempt your memory?" she shifts her position slightly, producing the faint noise of clinking coins.

The fishmonger's eyes narrow slightly. "Who pays for information they don't particularly need?"

"We're not going to part with an exorbitant amount," Richard puts in, understanding Tiffany's ruse. "We could go ask another observant person. They might be more forthcoming, for less."

"You do know this is toxic fish, right?" a Lionguard who is passing asks.

"We're on our guard, thanks," Tiffany says dismissively. "Good job at keeping an eye on this guy, though," she says in a lower voice. "He's a rascal."

"Oh, I remember now," the fishmonger says slowly. "a fella did come through here last night, in bad temper. Seemed like he hadn't slept in a while. Cursing and muttering to himself, too. He stayed the night here, and slept in late."

"Where'd he go then?"

"Went right back the way he came." the fishmonger answered promptly. "I went out to watch him, and he went right back up the road, past the bridge, past the fork right there."

"Thanks for your information," Tiffany says. She uses a special skill she'd learned before Tyria to move her ears just slightly (it was all she could do) to get Fiona's attention. She twisted a hand behind her back, before coming back around with a flicking motion. A couple coins appeared and landed among the man's fish. "See you never, I hope," she says over her shoulder as she walks away. The rest of the group followed her.

Tiffany stops, when they're out of earshot. "Mind shattering that in his face, Fiona?"

"Sure. Hope he gets the idea."

"We'll be too far down the road by the time for him to come after us, too," Fiona says. "The coins are swimming in fish right now, he won't find them 'till I want him to, and by then there'll be a lot of illusory coins, for a lovely shatter."

"How'll you know?"

"I left a portal there, a little ways off, I'll portal back and then here again too fast for him to notice, every once in a while, to see if he's got them yet."

"That is so cool," Ayla says. "You gave him fake coins?"

"Yep. And they'll explode in his face," Tiffany tells her.

"He was mean, and he stinks. I'm glad he's getting a punishment." Ayla agrees.

"Well, we know where Jake turned, now." Fiona tells them. She lays a portal and vanishes for a moment, before coming back. "He's got em alright. I just wish I could see his reaction. Hopefully it's violent enough the Lionguard'll kick him out."

"I admit this is hilarious," Richard tells them, "but we do need to get home."

"Let's go."

The group vanishes in a puff of blue, arriving at Shaemoor waypoint. Tiffany and Fiona go to the inn, and Ayla's family goes to their house. It is late.

"You gonna need to meditate in the morning?" Tiffany grumbles.

"Nope. I didn't do too many illusions today, I'm still mostly fresh," she explains.

"That's great," Tiffany yawns. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, this is kind of confusing, given Mat's perspective. He apparently slept from nightting on Day 4 to nighttime on day 6 natural sleep, not drugged.  
> But that's not realiztic! so I came up with an answer - the drug Jake is using has a side effect of short-term memory loss - May won't remember the last twenty minutes after taking the drug. So he wakes up several times on the journey, and Jake immediately notices and drugs him, so Mat doesn't ever remember waking up. I explained the first time he woke up so you would've be confused, but Mat doesn't remember that, either. Got it? Great!  
> I plotted out very painstakingly how many days it takes to get from Shaemoor to the bandit's hideout, and whcih spans they can cover each day. I tried to keep it realistic.


	7. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue party continues the mission to find Mat. The bandits have been plotting again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, feedback! I want to know if you like the story, and perhaps ideas for what to do? Is there something that you want to happen in the story? Maybe I can fit it in, if I don't already have plans. What parts of the story do or don't you like about the story so far?

Mat is terrified. It's the day after he was brought here, and even more bandits are around than yesterday. At least the bandit that brought him here, Jake, isn't around anymore, Mat reasons.  
"Hey, it's another one of those fellas from Shaemoor!" someone shouts from the entrance of the cave.  
Mat, watching the campfire, notices the big man who put him in the cage, whose name he knew was Goff, sigh.  
"What does he want?"  
"He's got a message from Ted, Goff."  
"Bring him on in," Goff grumbles.  
A short man enters the hideout.  
"Oh. It's you, Thorn," Goff says. "Come on, tell us what the big boss wants."  
"Well, we were all gearing up for a big city operation, but then a couple of girls - no one knows how many - went and wiped out all the bandits southwest of Shaemoor. You know the place?"  
"Yep. The place you were building those wooden platforms all over?"  
"The very same. So these girls wiped the place out - Jake barely escaped - and so we can't do our big mission, because we don't have anyone to help. It's just the bosses, and a handful of people who were out on raids or at HQ."  
"What's the mission?"  
"Two targets in the city, Queen's Heart Orphanage and Vanguard Military Hospital located near each other in the Salma district, both at the same time. It's fail-proof, since the Seraph already have a hard time keeping up with things out in the country, and who expects a raid in the city?  
"Ted got a good idea for once!" one of the other bandits said, feigning surprise. "Willya lookit that?"  
"Ted's idea's 'r always good, Hank ya idiot," says his friend, cuffing him over the head.  
"So, why'r you here, Thorn?" Goff asks.  
"Well, Ted needs help with that operation, 'cause we haven't got enough people. Ted sent fer you, in particular, 'long with all your gang. 'Cept mebbe someone to watch the pris'ners."  
"Tell Ted to go find another gang to help him, I'm not risking my whole gang getting Seraph capture."  
"That's the beauty of it, though, Goff," Thorn says, sitting down. "Ted's struck a deal with the Ministry Guard, that we'll make the Seraph look bad - you know, attack people and stuff, make it seem like they can't protect anyone - and while that's goin' on, Ministry Commander Serentine'll sneak us out every time we're busted. And we tell her beforehand when and where, and she shows up and makes the 'arrests'," Thorn paused and made quote marks in the air with his fingers. " 'arrests', I say, and frees us after. There was the one time Thackeray got there just after she did, but she still made the arrests, and let 'em out the next day."  
"Pretty sweet deal going there, I must say," Goff replies slowly. "And why's Ted made this deal? Something in the long run?"  
"After the Seraph get unpopular enough, they'll be voted out by the Ministers on the Council, and the Ministry Guard'll let us do what we like. Only hindrance at the moment is the Seraph, and we're working on that."  
"Why's Serentine made the deal?" Goff asks cautiously.  
"She's got no other way to make the Seraph look bad." Thorn said casually.  
"Down here, it's hardly the Seraph that bother us - they've got one camp southeast of here, but they don't come up here. Naw, it's the Lionguard for us. They've struck a treaty with the centaurs, but that just leaves 'em free to come after us. And they don't stick to their roads, either, so that option's out. I think they've got a handle on where this hideout is, and I'm not about to leave it."  
"Jake can 'point down here ag'in - bein somebody who's not a farmer, perchance - an' report your troops amassing in the opposite direction from Black Haven."  
Goff is nodding slowly. The other bandits are grinning. "I'm still not sure," Goff says.  
" 'Course, that also means he can lead 'em straight here," Thorn says. The bandits freeze. Goff's hand moves to his side. "'S'not hard. All that has to happen is I don't come back, and the Lionguard'll be knocking your door down."  
Mat is in awe. This man - bandit or not - had all avenues covered. He has the perfect plan so the Lionguard couldn't bust these bandits, but the same plan allows for immediate destruction of the hideout. He'd also just let them know that killing him or taking him prisoner would bring the latter event into effect. And he was brave enough to come here, knowing Goff could kill him before he delivered that message. Goff is stuck.  
The bandit lieutenant sneers at Thorn. "You think you're so smart. Tell me, how'd you know I'd need such a plan to protect my gang?"  
"We didn't. But Ted also knows that you've been rather uncooperative lately, and is rather itching for an excuse to off you without depleting his forces even more. I doubt he'd feel that way if your gang proved influential at success in Divinity's Reach."  
"Oh alright," Goff snarls. "But you'll need to wait a while, most of my boys are off on missions. You know, assaulting Seraph and killing them off. Makin' 'em look useless. It'll take a while to recall them."  
"That's fine. We're in no hurry," Thorn says dismissively. "Take as long as you need."  
"Robinson! Carter!" Goff snaps. "Get the rest of the boys and find Hardy's group, along with Vincent's, Greg's, and Rand's groups. Tell Frank's to get in here and watch the bandits."  
"What about Poular's team?" asks another bandit.  
"They're all from Triskell Quay, Quarryside, and Fort Salma."  
"And that one from Wallwatcher Camp, southwest," the bandit called Hank pipes up, as Robinson and Carter leave the cave the hideout is situated in.  
"Yeah, Jack. But they've never been to Divinity's Reach, they'd take forever to get there. They can watch these'ns." Goff jabs a thumb down the short passageway that leads to the prisoner's cages.  
"Great. Those three teams should be enough for this job," Thorn says. "I need to get going. Seeya in Divinity's Reach. And if you don't show up, again, I don't think you're well-defended enough to survive an all-out Lionguard raid. And no help from the other bandit gangs around here, they'll be notified. And the centaurs, by your own admission, have a treaty. Bye." he leaves.  
Mat supposes they gave him the name Thorn for a reason.  
As soon as Thorn is out of earshot, Goff starts ranting about Ted and Thorn, and all the other 'Divinity dwellers'. Mat shrinks to the back of the large cage. Luckily, Goff doesn't notice.  
A while later, Robinson comes back with a group of bandits. "Jerry went to grab Vincent's team, Goff," says one bandit.  
"Good call, Hardy," Goff says. "He's sneaky, and Vincent's in deep. I suppose Carter went after Greg and Rand?" he addresses Robinson.  
"Yup. Should be back soon."  
Just then, a group of bandits - none of whom Mat had seen before - appear around the corner.  
"Darrell said you'd recalled the bandit troops, Goff?" says one.  
"Darn sure," Goff growls. "Ted's called us all up to Divinity's Reach to help out with something, yer team'll be watching the prisoners."  
"But - "  
"None of you've got any 'points up there, and Ted's called everyone but people who can't get up there quick. Only way you'll get there in time's if you don't sleep the whole journey, and that'd leave ya useless for the battle. 'Sides, someone has to watch these dogs."  
"Okay, okay," says who Mat supposes to be Poular. "And who's this'n? He's new." Poular is surveying the prisoner cages.  
"Ol' Twitchy Jake, from Ted's gang, brought him yesterday. Rough him as much as you like, we're just holdin' him for Jake. Jake doesn't care, he just wants a ransom eventually. However long it is."  
"Rand, reporting, sir!" comes a voice from the entrance.  
"I toldja, Rand, no need to announce yerself like that!" Goff tells the bandit. "What'f someone'd taken over? They'd be prepared when you came in."  
"Sorry, sir - uh, Goff."  
"Yeah, stop callin' me sir."  
"What's up with him?" Mat hears one bandit ask another softly.  
"He used to be in the Seraph. He's used to ranks and sirs and things."  
"Why'd he leave?"  
"Felt they weren't giving him all his credit, and was unappreciated. Gave us sweet intel on their tactics, he did."  
"Great. Should give that intel to this Serentine gal who's leading the Ministry Guard now," grumbles another bandit. "She could put it out, that'd be great for the Seraph decline she's looking for. Nice bonus to us, too, if they clear out."  
"Specially if they all defect," chortles another.  
Meanwhile, another group had arrived. Mat gathers it is Vincent's team, and that Greg would be along soon. Mat sighs miserably, curling up in the back of the cage.  
A while later, Greg's team arrives, along with a couple stragglers and scouts.  
"Where's Carlos?" Goff demands. "Carlos is missing."  
"Where'as he stationed?"  
"He was assigned mobile watchman for the hideout," Hank pipes up. "He could be anywhere around, you know there's no patrol route."  
"Probly wasn't notified. Ah, well, he can stay with Poular's crew," Goff grunts. "Move out, people. Not to Shaemoor. To that lumber mill 'cross Lake Delavan from the Beggar's Burrow Ted uses as HQ."  
The cavern flashed blue for a moment, and when the light cleared, only a few bandits were left. Poular starts issuing orders.  
The bandits get settled in, chatting around the fire. Mat notices, in a crevice - an irregularity of the cavern's build - a shadow move. He wonders what it could be for a moment, before setting it down to the dancing flames. Now that he's thought of that, the other shadows seem to be moving, but whenever he looks closer, it's just the flames, as well as, probably, the sun outside, which provides most of the light.  
Suddenly, that light was blocked out. The bandits all looked in that direction, and Mat tried to see. A brick wall barred the entrance to the cavern.  
The bandits leaped up, drawing weapons. Even the prisoners approach the doors of their cages cautously. Then, the bandits hesitate. There is nothing for them to attack. They look to Poular, who is just as confused as them. He ponders for a moment.  
"Everyone to the front," he directs, after a moment. "If whoever it is is expecting us to be surprised, they'll fail. It's probably an illusion, but it's a poor one.  
All the bandits ran over to the brick wall, ready to attack at the slightest motion of the wall.  
Suddenly, all over the room, figures appear in the shadows, throwing colored balls of light at the bandits. When they step into the open, Mat gasps. It's Fiona! At the same time, a large bear that Mat recognizes as Beorn charges through the illusory wall, while Tiffany unstealthed in the midst of the bandits with two axes. She'd prepared for this battle by switching her off-hand dagger to an off-hand axe. She whirls around and around the bandits, striking every which way, while Fiona's colored orbs of energy bounce between her enemies, poisoning, crippling, and bleeding them. The many balls of light also make the bandits confused and dizzy, giving Tiffany easy targets. Mat watches the battle with a grin on his face.  
So are the other prisoners. They don't know who it is, but they know they're being rescued. Except for one other. She has a concentrating look on her face - the type you get when trying to remember something - while staring first at Tiffany, then at Fiona, and repeating.  
Mat tries to figure out which Fiona is the actual Fiona. He eventually spots her sitting in a corner, covered with shadow, her hands pressed to her temples and her eyes closed. Mat winces. The level of mental power it must take to maintain, not only all her illusions, but their balls of energy and the brick wall at the entrance, must be overpowering.  
Tiffany seems to be getting worn out with her knives, but the bandits are at too close range to use her bow, and there are so many she doesn't have time to draw her knives.  
"Fiona," she grunts.  
Fiona looks up, and the brick wall starts flickering. The light stays blocked out, but the wall is flickering. Seeing Tiffany's predicament, several clones wink out, along with the orbs of light they'd thrown, and a large, sword appears in Tiffany's hands. Fiona nods at Tiffany, before closing her eyes again. A lot of illusions pop into existence, throwing more balls of colored light, while the brick wall vanishes for good and the bright light of the sun streams in.  
Tiffany had strategically placed herself with her back to the wall, so she appearance of light didn't faze her, as well as having one of her pets - a spider that launches poison - outside the wall, knowing the wall would vanish sometime. Richard was also outside the wall, and starts shooting with his rifle as soon as it disappears. But it blinded the bandits, who had no warning. Tiffany spun around with the sword pointing straight out from herself, forcing the bandits to stumble backwards or be given a vital injury.  
Tiffany straightens up, and a moment later her bow was in hand, and with several arrows on the string - a rather loose string, for less power - she shoots at the cavernous roof. The arrows fly true, and it seems all they'll do is embed in the roof, but the low power Tiffany shot them with meant they turn near the top, and with arrowhead down, plunge into the midst of the bandits who swarmed Tiffany the moment she pulled her bow.  
Axes in hand again, Tiffany spins and whirls. Tiffany's spider hatchling is launching poison into the midst of the bandits. It didn't affect Tiffany, as she'd taken a tiny dose of the spider's poison soon after she arrived in Tyria, as a vaccine. Which, of course, Tyrians hadn't heard of.  
This battle took a lot less time than it takes to tell, and soon the last few bandits surrender.  
Fiona, her mental power exhausted, drops all illusions. She is still physically as powerful as normal, however, and has no trouble helping Tiffany tie up the last few bandits. Richard, Katherine and Ayla enter the cave cautisouly.  
Then, they approach the part of the cavern that houses the prisoners. Fiona makes a beeline for Mat, with Tiffany and the others on her heels.  
"You found me!" Mat says joyfully as she unlocks the cage.  
"Are you alright?" Tiffany asks. "Yes, of course we found you, what else'd we do?"  
"I'm fine. That was one impressive fight. How'd you keep up all those illusions at once, Fiona?"  
"By concentrating," Fiona says dryly. "As well as having Tiffany here take the attention of the bandits.  
A small gasp comes from the cage that contains the woman Mat'd noticed earlier. Tiffany and Fiona look over.  
"Tiffany! Fiona!" she says.  
Tiffany's mouth pops open into a small O. "D-deborah?"  
"Tiffany!" the woman says again. "You came."  
"Deborah! You're here!" Tiffany says in surprise, rushing over and unlocking the cage.  
"Who's that?" Mat asks Fiona.  
"That's our sister..." Fiona says slowly. "Deborah, I thought you were dead!"  
"No... not yet." Deborah smiles weakly. "Who's this? A bandit brought him yesterday."  
"This is Mat, from Shaemoor." Tiffany tells her. "We made friends oh... hey, a week ago today!" she says.  
"Only a week?" Mat says, stunned. "It feels like forever... but," Mat frowns, counting the days. "It's only been five or six."  
"That's odd..." Tiffany says, wrinkling her forehead.  
"It's the drug," one of the bandits cackles. "It made him forget the last twenty minutes every time Jake made him take it. So he doesn't remember waking up the whole way here."  
Meanwhile, Richard and Katherine had been unlocking the other cages.  
Suddenly, Mat remembers.  
"Tiffany, Fiona! the bandits are attacking Divinity's Reach! You thought this team was hard, there's four more of the same size, along with the other bandits! They're going for... for..." Mat struggles to remember.  
"Queen's Heart Orphanage and Vanguard Hospital, in the Salma district," another woman spoke up.  
Tiffany and Fiona glance at each other, panic in their faces.  
"Let's get moving, then." Richard says. "Do you have waypoints to Shaemoor?"  
"I live in Triskell Quay," one man says. "I've got waypoints there, and family. I can handle myself." he disappears with a flash of blue.  
"Yes, we've got them," the other woman says. "I'll be fine."  
"Let's go then. Come on Deborah, let's get you to Andrew and Petra's."  
Everyone vanishes in a puff of blue.  
"What about us!" shout the tied-up bandits. The last woman glares at them spitefully. "You can stay there until the Lionguard or the Seraph come, you pitiless dogs," she says before vanishing.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tiffany and Fiona had waypointed directly to Salma district, but notice nothing's happening. The orphanage and the hospital are fine. Tiffany decides to go see Captain Thackeray and tell him about the planned attack, while Fiona goes back to Shaemoor to try and spy on the bandits.  
"Why'd you take so long?" Katherine asks Fiona when she appears.  
"Oh, me and Tiffany went straight to Salma. But nothing's going on."  
"It was rather late before they left, they might be waiting until tomorrow," Mat offers.  
"If Goff isn't in charge of this mission, certainly. Who's this Ted I keep hearing mentions of?" Deborah puts in.  
"I think he's the ringleader of all the bandits spread over Kryta, if Goff is subordinate to him," Fiona replies. "He's rather level-headed, when he's not drunk out of his head, and he would wait until tomorrow. How long did they leave before we came?"  
"Oh, maybe half an hour?"  
"That is late," Fiona says. "Yeah, they'll wait until tomorrow. I'm going to infiltrate their hideout and find out more details."  
"How will you do that?"  
"I'm a mesmer. Look - " Fiona's appearance changes, and she no longer looks like Fiona. Her hair shortens and changes color, she gets a little taller, slimmer, and her eyes take on a new slant and change color, too. Her clothes change. All in all, she now screams 'dangerous bandit'.  
"Whoa, that is cool," Richard says. "Can you - "  
Fiona's face screws up suddenly, and she reverts to normal.  
"Nah, I can't do that," she says, shaking her head. "I already exhausted my mental power in that battle..."  
"Ouch. How're we going to spy on the bandits now?"  
"We won't. The only thing I wanted to discover is if they're using Blaize's explosives. If they are, well..."  
"Yeah. So, anyway, Deborah, you need to get to Andrew's. I'm sure he and Petra will be anxious to see you."  
"Let's go!"

* * *

"Deborah!" Petra shouts. "Dad, Deborah's alive!"  
"Deborah? You sure?"  
"Of course I'm sure!" Petra says, embracing Deborah. They'd been best friends before Deborah was captured.  
"Hey, Deborah," Fiona says, frowning. "Didn't the centaurs decimate Falcon Company?"  
"Yes," Deborah says sadly. "They knew our tactics and everything."  
"Then how are you alive? Or those other prisoners? And why a bandit camp?"  
"The centaurs took us prisoner, and then sold us to the bandits. Not many survived."  
"Huh. Captain Thackeray might be interested in that. Centaurs taking prisoner? Not to mention knowing your tactics."  
Later, Tiffany and Fiona meet up by the Shaemoor waypoint.  
"How'd it go?" Fiona asks Tiffany.  
"Fairly well. Captain Thackeray's calling in more Seraph to make certain nobody gets hurt. Captain Thackeray is leading the Seraph unit that's ousting the bandits at the orphanage, and Lieutenant Francis is leading the team for the military hospital. We'll be there, too of course."  
"I'll go to the hospital," Fiona says.  
"And I'll hit the orphanage. Those bandits won't know what hit them." Tiffany says decidedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bandits use " 'point " to mean 'waypoint'.


	8. Foiled Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bandits think they're sneaky. Bandits think they can get away with things and be released from jail after. But they can't do any of those things - not when the Tassof sisters are on the case.

Petra is still bouncing off the walls that Deborah's alive. It's the next morning - the morning of the day that the bandits are planning to attack the orphanage and the hospital. Tiffany and Fiona aren't, which draws strange looks from Petra now and again.

"Let's go stand watch by the orphanage and hospital," Fiona proposes, halfway through the morning. "We don't know when they'll attack."

"Why weren't we doing it already?" Tiffany says, following her sister out the door.

"No idea," Fiona shrugs. "Kinda hard to remember things like that when we're used to - "

"Used to not helping out the Seraph?" Tiffany interrupts, watchful of the villagers standing around as they stroll through the district.

"...yeah. Okay, here's the hospital. See you later?"

"Later. Hope for a successful mission?" Tiffany raises an eyebrow.

"Of course." Fiona replies. Tiffany goes to the orphanage and hangs around. She stands a little way down the street and tries to be unobtrusive, as she's sure the bandits might recognize her. Beorn stealths as Tiffany whispers a command. Apparently 'stowing' did nearly the same thing as 'switching'.

After a while, Tiffany espies a shady-looking person - nervous and shifty, and keeps to the shadows. Another person glares at him occasionally, and Tiffany assumes it's another bandit, mad at his fellow for drawing attention. Tiffany crosses her arms, checking her her knives to make sure they are in position. She glances down the street - away from the bandits. She keeps her eyes moving, looking around as if a newcomer drinking in the sights.

Little by little, the population of people Tiffany has tagged as bandits grows. Civilians finish their business in the area and leave. Tiffany leans against a wall and pretends to stare into space for a while.

Suddenly, a sharp movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention, and suddenly a lot of people run into the orphanage, shooting and yelling and setting fire to things. The Seraph appear on the scene almost immediately, as Tiffany is running into the orphanage.

She fights her way through the large building, showing children out the door to safety.

At the top of a flight of stairs, she encounters Twitchy Jake.

"Is this the man who likes kidnapping children?" Tiffany asks, twirling a knife in her hand. "I believe I owe you an apology."

"For what?" the bandits asks guardedly.

"For killing your buddies and setting the Lionguard on the rest, that's what," Tiffany says, throwing the knife. Jake dodges, but the knife still hits his leg. "Oh, look at that. Oh, well. I'll aim better next time... or maybe there won't be a next time." Tiffany leaps forwards slashing and stabbing, and Jake retreats, calling for help.

Big Nose Ted appears on the scene. "Oh. It's this little miscreant again," he snarls. "Now I've got my lieutenants with me, you're dead meat. Johnny, Della, Goff, get in here!"

"Oh and guess what? I took them on and defeated them too. All except this Goff guy, he'll be a new challenge."

"Is this the bandit that was let out of prison without a trial?" Captain Thackeray says from behind you.

"Yep. Let's see if we can't manage to get them in there again." Tiffany shoots another arrow and vanishes in stealth. She reappears behind the Captain, shooting the bandits.

Other Seraph run up the stairway and engage the bandits, as well. It is the same difficulty as the last time Tiffany fought these bandits - they're all together, but she has Captain Thackeray and some other Seraph on her side. She hopes Fiona has a better time.

"Surrender!" the Captain shouts at them.

"Never!" comes the reply.

"Die, then." Tiffany says simply. She stealths again, and reappears on the other end of the room, throwing knives at the bandits' backs. Twitchy Jake spins around and tries to throw one of her knives back at her, but she simply dodges. "Thanks for returning my weapons. Now, twitch!" her next knife leaves a shallow gash in his side. "Oh, and guess what? I found a tiny stash of poison in your hideout, Goff. Eat it!" she throws two knives - one at Goff and the other at Big Nose Ted. Goff tumbles to the side, not getting hit, but the other knife hits Ted on the shoulder.

"Oh, lookit that," Tiffany says in surprise. "It looks like the blade with poison on it didn't hit you, it hit Ted."

Ted grabs at his shoulder and starts screaming.

"Oh, was it a painful poison? I'm so sorry!" Tiffany says in mock distress. "Well... serves you right for having some around!" she stealths, coming up again behind Captain Thackeray. She shoots at the bandits while chatting with them.

"Poular's dead, you know." she tells Goff. "He was frighteningly easy to kill, but then, what do you expect of someone who likes holding six-year-olds captive? He and his team fell like rocks."

One by one, the bandits fall, dead. Captain Thackeray keeps repeating the call to surrender, and each time 'never' is replied.

Soon, all the bandits are dead.

"Move, soldiers! That military hospital needs backup!" the Captain tells the Seraph.

* * *

Meanwhile, Fiona had been fighting a vastly different battle - she was backed up by Seraph, like Tiffany, but she also had multiple versions of herself. She had to deal with Blaize, as well as Goff's lieutenants - Hardy, Vincent, Greg, and Rand. They were formidable opponents - not more so than Big Nose Ted, but still tougher than normal bandits.

"Poular's dead," a clone would whisper in their ear before slamming an energy orb in their faces. More than just crippling and bleeding them, it also scorched their face, and Fiona was able to dispatch the bandits with ease using her greatsword. Of course, it's not all her. Seraph soldiers are doing a good job of keeping the bandits busy, which was why she wasn't dead yet, not having got a healing signet yet.

Then, Tiffany and Captain Thackeray arrive, with more Seraph.

"We've pretty much got this place cleaned out, sir. The wounded Seraph and others are all out of the building, and Fiona here deactivated a few explosives." Francis tells him.

"Let's get those bandits eradicated," Captain Thackeray directs.

"Ted's dead, Fiona," Tiffany tells her, as she heads into the building.

Fiona replies with a thumbs-up, while she leans on her staff. The battle had been mentally draining. Not as much as when they'd freed Mat, but still.

Tiffany, Captain Thackeray, and Lt. Francis have just left the hospital after making sure there aren't any more bandits.

"The Ministry Guard will take it from here." declares a female voice.

"This is Seraph business, not a ministry problem. My people will make the arrests." replies Captain Thackeray.

"If you insist. Tell me: how did you respond so quickly?" probes Serentine.

"Don't underestimate - the Seraph, Commander."

Tiffany's quick ears hear the ever-so-slight catch in Captain Thackeray's voice, and hides a grin. She just  _knows_  he was about to say Destiny's Edge - apparently being a ranger has some bonuses. As well as staying behind Captain Thackeray all the time.

"Very well. Congratulations on doing your job correctly, Thackeray – for once. Ministry Guard! Clear out!" Serentine leaves.

Captain Thackeray is shaking his head.

"At least we saved the children and the soldiers at the hospital!" Tiffany tells him cheerfully. "Nothing like stopping bandits from carrying out their evil schemes."

"Which we've done a lot of, these last couple days." Fiona says dryly. "Don't you think it's time for a rest?"

"You said Serentine's been releasing bandits?" Thackeray says to Tiffany.

"Yes, sir." Fiona says. "We were rescueing Mat, and we overheard their talking. Mat was able to confirm, from thing's he'd overheard, that Serentine has been releasing prisoners. She's got a deal going with the bandits, that they make the Seraph look like they can't do anything, and when the public votes them out, the Ministry'll let them do whatever. Part of that is Serentine let's 'em out so they can continue doing that. It's disgusting."

"That is serious," Captain Thackeray says. "Meet me in my office later to discuss our next move. And, Lieutenant! Good job with holding down the fort here while I was at the orphanage."

"See you, Captain," Tiffany says.

"Thank you, sir." Francis replies.

As Tiffany and Fiona go back to Andrew's tavern, they discuss what'd happened.

"That went well. Oy wonk, morf... noitamrofni... I tog ni Trae fo Snroth, Scinarf sekat ti yelliveah tath eh deliaf ereh. Semalb flesmih, a toll." Tiffany says, careful of bystanders.

"Good thing there were two of us, then."

"I know. Let's check up on the family. And, we need to act more like we're happy to see Deborah. Not as enthusiastic as Petra, but still at least a bit. We were relatively stony compared to her, and she's our sister too."

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

"Hey, Petra! Deborah!" Tiffany says with a smile. "We saved the orphanage and the hospital, nothing got blown up by Blaize and nobody died. Well, except for bandits."

"You killed the bandits?"

"They wouldn't surrender. Plus, they kidnapped Mat."

"Speaking of Mat, he and his family came over while you were away."

"Tiffany!" Ayla squeals, running over for a hug.

"Hey, Ayla. You having fun?"

"You bet! Petra and Deborah are so fun to play with!"

"What about Mat?"

"Mr Andrew is showing him some things about running a tavern. He seems interested, but also wants to know if throwing stones will help."

"Tell him it'll help a lot if he can throw stones at people who are misbehaving and not leaving when you tell them to," Fiona says seriously.

"That'd just get them madder!" Tiffany replies.

"Yeah, so? They'll be stunned for long enough for the Seraph to arrive. Or it might take their eye out."

"But we  _don't_  want it to take their eye out!"

"Don't we?"

"Why would we?"

"Bandits."

"Well yeah, but not all drunk people are bandits!"

"Of course not. But if they do come, then - "

"Guys!" Petra groans. "Not now!"

"Fine," Tiffany grouches.

"They still do that?" Deborah says incredulously. "They did that when they were kids!"

"They've never stopped, apparently," Petra says dryly. "It's actually entertaining, sometimes. They even did it in front of Captain Thackeray and Countess Anise."

"Really? Girls!"

"Ohno, it's the Deborah monster!" Tiffany shrieks, relying on the memories she has of Deborah from before she'd disappeared. "Run!"

"Wait! She's faster than we are, we need to - " Fiona starts, then bursts out laughing at the look on Deborah's face. "Come on," both girls run off.

"They remember that?" Petra says in surprise.

"I terrorized them a lot more off the radar, you know," Deborah tells her. "They developed this thing where they hide in some shady place and hatch a plan."

"You coming?" Tiffany pokes her head around a corner. "It's no fun if you don't chase us. Or -  _Ayla! Mat!_ " she hollers.

"Yes?"

"The Deborah monster is here. Run find a place to hide."

"Deborah monster?"

"Yeah, she'll chase you all over the house, and then when she catches you, she'll tickle you mercilessly until you manage to say that you're her slave now. It took us ages to figure out that's what she wanted, and she is  _good_  at ticklieeeng!" she turns and runs as Deborah leaps off her chair and chases her. "Fiona, help!"

"Shhh, in here!" Fiona whispers. "Remember the secret door?"

"Coming, coming, here," Tiffany yelps softly. "Mat and Ayla have been notified."

"Ahh ha ha ha ha ha! Ah hah ha ha ha!" comes the shriek from upstairs.

"Ayla!" both girls say. "We need to save her!"

"We're coming, Ayla!" Tiffany yells. "Don't give in!"

"This monster's going down," Fiona says smugly.

"Fiona, no illusions. It's not fair. She never used her things when chasing us."

"Fine. We'll take her down physically, then. Remember playing 'Get Daddy Off the Rug'? We'll both hit her at the same time, on the same side. Push up and get her away from Ayla."

"Great plan," Tiffany agrees.

Their plan, when executed, works wonderfully.

"Come on, Ayla, run!" Fiona says as Deborah rolls over and leaps to her feet.

The trio run. Mat appears in a doorway. "I'm not playing!" he yelps when Deborah approaches him. "I don't want to get tickled! Go get Ayla."

"Runn!" Tiffany tells Ayla. "C'mon!"

The trio slip into the secret place Tiffany had found years and years ago, and remains unfound by Deborah.

"Okay. Remember -  _her_  weakness is people knowing her tactics, right?" Fiona whispers. "We know her tactics are chase and tickle, so what we need to do is - hey, there's no way for us to win!"

"We win by never giving in. Once we're her slaves we're out, and once she's got both of us the game is over, remember? But if she gives up before she gets all of us, then we win. Makes sense?" Tiffany reasons.

"Yep. So, who's most tickle-immune?" Fiona asks.

"Dad tickles me all the time," Ayla informs them. "He seems to think I should be squirming, but it just feels like he's rubbing me."

"That'll work. Just tell us if you need saving. We'll take turns. And you do have to pretend to squirm like it tickles, or she'll find your tickle spot. There's no such thing as being completely immune." Tiffany instructs.

"Let's move, then." Fiona says. "Ayla, you need to run to the top floor."

"Why not the bottom floor?"

"Andrew said don't play the game on the bottom floor, that's where the visitors who come the inn are. We don't want to frighten them or drive them off. It would be fun to have a neighborhood match, though. We should do that sometime."

"Later, though. We need to focus on this one. There's a very narrow passage in here that leads to the top floor, just run up there and we'll ambush her. She'll wear out faster if you don't let her catch you, so just run around. Alert us you need to be replaced by..." Tiffany thinks a moment.

"I'll yell change." Ayla says firmly.

"Got it. Now - "

"Wait - she's making her rounds," Fiona interrupts. "Wait 'till she passes before leaving, so she doesn't find this place. We've guarded it for twenty years (although for most of those she wasn't here) and we'll not let it out now."

"She's past. Go, Ayla!" Tiffany tells her, peeking through a hole in the wooden wall.

Ayla slips out the door and dashes for the stairway. "Come and get me!" she hollers.

Startled, Deborah runs back past the hidden door. Tiffany and Fiona are already squeezing through the narrow passage - much narrower than when they used to play this game - to the hidden room on the top floor. Looking through tiny holes they'd found, they watched the chase.

"Change!" Ayla shrieks.

A door opens silently behind Deborah, and Tiffany slips out, closes the door, and jumps over Deborah.

"Comin'?" she asks with a smirk, allowing Ayla to run back down the stairs and into the other secret room. "Come get me!" she runs all over the two floors they're allowed freedom on, slipping in and out of rooms (some of which had two doors, not counting closets) and leading Deborah on an all-around chase.

"Ch-change!" she yells eventually. "Change!" she is on the stairs upwards to the third floor. She hops on the railing and slides back down, to Deborah's surprise. She grabs one of the spindles on the railing and hangs there, halfway down the staircase. Deborah stares at her.

"I didn't know that railing was so sturdy."

"Andrew repaired it so we could do this while you were away," Tiffany smirks at her. "And we practiced."

"No fair!" Deborah, yells, enraged.

"No fair?" Fiona taunts from the top of the staircase. "If so, come get me."

Taking chase, Deborah yells back, "what's that to do with anything?"

"Nothing, except it's also unfair that we've grown up more! We've got bigger!"

"At least this way I get a workout!" Deborah snarls. "Feels good to stretch my legs finally."

"You mean you didn't? Twenty years without stretching your legs? No wonder you're no taller than you were! You grow by stretching!"

Meanwhile, Tiffany drops down to the second floor from the staircase. A door pops open. Tiffany looks confusedly back up the way she came. The wood is warped slightly, partway down.

She slips into the unexplored room and closes the door behind her. There is a narrow staircase up and down. She sneaks down. There's a door, on what would be about the first floor. But the staircase continues down. Much farther down than the first floor. She comes out in the basement. She gasps. This was an invaluable find for her and Fiona. She turns and runs back up to where she'd come in, and further. There's another door, but still more stairs. It comes out on the attic, where there's a small window that lets out onto the roof. Again, a lovely find. She goes back to the first floor, tells Ayla about the basement, if she wants some breathing room, and then returns to the third floor.

"Change! Change! Change!" Fiona is yelling.

"Oops," Tiffany whispers to herself. She hops out of the secret room and takes Deborah's attention. Fiona slips inside.

"Run, run, as fast as you can!" Tiffany says. "You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

"What?" Deborah asks.

"It's code!" Tiffany says in a panic. "It means - well, I can't tell you, it's code!" inside, she's wondering why on earth Tyrian's haven't heard of the gingerbread man.

" _the_  gingerbread man?" Deborah continues. "There's not one specific one."

"There is, in code," Tiffany smirks. She turns down to the second floor. "Ayla! Change!" she shouts. "Ayla! Change! Ayla!"

Fiona appears behind Deborah. "Oh, no! Deborah monster!" she says in a squeaky voice.

Deborah turns, and Tiffany scrambles around the corner to the secret room. She runs down to the basement.

"Ayla, we can't be down here unless everyone is. Otherwise, we won't hear the shout for change. Come on, you need to replace Fiona."

When Ayla takes Deborah's attention, Tiffany tells Fiona rapidly about the new secret door she found, and that it linked all the floors.

"Great," Fiona says in a thumbs-up.

"And Tyrian's don't know about the gingerbread man."

"Gingerbread man?"

"Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man," Tiffany chants softly.

"Oh, that one. You said that to her?"

"Yup."

"You're riddikulis."

"You're redonkulous, and thanks for the compliment."

"Tiff..." Fiona groans. "Everyone knows your rediculous."

"It's weird. Crazy. Odd. Rediculous fits, I suppose... and you said it weird, a moment ago."

"Riddikulis? The boggart-spell?"

"Oh, that! It's Riddikulous."

"Whatever!"

"Change!" Ayla shouts.

Tiffany takes Ayla's place. She glances back. Deborah's falling behind.

"Give up, yet?" Tiffany asks her.

"No! Never!" Deborah snarls. "I've not lost before!"

"We're grown-up now, remember... you might have to lose sometimes."

"Not fair, you have three on your side! I want a helper!"

"Mat doesn't want to be tickled, see if he'll join your side!" Tiffany shouts back.

"Good idea," Deborah said delightedly, and vanished down the staircase.

Tiffany slipped back into the secret room.

"Let's all go down to the basement and listen in on her plans with Mat," Tiffany says.

* * *

Later that evening, everyone was exhausted. They collapsed on chairs around the table, with no declared winners yet.

"Good game?" Tiffany says tiredly.

"Yeah... think we should organize a neighborhood version of it soon?" Deborah asks.

"How'd you guess. But there can't be one chaser - one chaser can't even chase three. It should be about half-and-half, with less chasers. Or maybe no chasers - everyone's on their own, and the last person standing wins." Tiffany speculates

"Great. But that would be boring for people who were out first." Deborah says.

"Hmm. So, if you get somebody, all the people they got get back up?" Fiona proposes. Tiffany shoots her a sharp glance. Fiona returns a questioning one.

"That'd be too hard for a neighborhood version, that means you would have to get everybody. And if you got down once in between, you'd have to start all over again." Deborah counters, not having seen the exchange of glances between Tiffany and Fiona.

"Yeah, but that just means the game won't end until enough people have to leave to not make it advisable to continue play. So then the game ends. Or maybe teams - you don't have to get the people on your team." Tiffany says enthusiastically.

"That's getting way too complicated for us to organize, and what about people who don't like each other? Bullies might just keep tickling after the required phrase is said." Fiona shakes her head.

"Oo! How about this, you have to say you're the other person's slave, right? So if they get you, you join their team until the end of the game? That'd incent bullies to not keep tickling - they have an ally now." Tiffany says brightly. "But if the game doesn't have a winner when it ends, it resets the next time you play. Otherwise, it'd be too long-drawn out and harder for younger kids to understand."

"Genius," Deborah declares. "We'll iron out the kinks later, but I'm too exhausted right now."

"We'll go see Captain Thackeray tomorrow. Oh, and Deborah, you want to go see him, report what happened with Falcon Company?"

"Sure." Deborah replies. "Er,  _why_  didn't I think of that before?"

"No idea," Tiffany says. "Well, let's get to bed. We haven't particularly got a long day tomorrow, but we had a long day today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you like it?  
> When we joined the game, memories about our past life was 'downloaded' into our minds, so we know our history. Would blow our cover to not, don't you think.  
> How do you like the way I have Deborah?  
> Me and Fiona debated (IRL) whether to have Deborah join us on our adventures, and if so, which profession. We ultimately decided not to - we'd prolly have to tell her all about our otherworldly experiences (pun intended) and we didn't want to do that either.  
> If we had let her on the team, however, then she'd have been an engineer, core specializations being Explosives, Alchemy and Inventions. I wanted her to be a support role, and Fiona a more dps role, so we compromised. But we ultimately decided not to have her in.  
> However, unlike the game (where we don't return home for years on end) we will return to our family occasionally. They're family!  
> Okkeee... I posted this without doing the formatting, so it may have been a bit confusing. There were a couple things I'd wanted to edit that I'd put in italics as a note to myself, that I never got around to fixing, apparently, and just realized it when I was updating the timeline. Sorry about that.


	9. WHATEVER!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three sisters go to visit Captain Thackeray as planned. After they're done, Tiffany and Fiona go for a walk and talk about things. The impact this - Tyria, everything - will have on them, as people, and their lives back home. Oh, and funny actions from the Tassof girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! How do you like the story? What possible things could I add in that I probably haven't thought of yet? Most importantly, any ideas on how long between level twenty and thirty?
> 
> Because Anet is horrible with smaller-scale time-lines. Sure, we know the whole personal story took place in a year. But how long between level ten and level twenty? That was kinda easy because of the route I'm taking - twenty could happen anytime. But thirty? And thirty's got some oddities, as well...
> 
> Anyway. Please review, opinions, ideas, what do you like/not like, etc. And if you see any grammatical errors please point them out! Also, my tense (past-present) gets muddled a lot, and I skim through it one last time correcting those mistakes, but I might miss some. Tell me if I do!
> 
> The chapter name is a reference to me, Fiona, and Deborah's craziness, just because I couldn't think up anything else for this chapter and it's FUNNY.
> 
> Also, I am deeply sorry that you cannot see how I envisioned the format of the story from the beginning. AO3 has its own sections for the notes, which fanfiction.net does not. I have grown attached to my layout on FFN, and it is probably more natural there. This one is kinda weird.
> 
>  
> 
> _  
> **Okay, here's the story now:**  
>  _

 

 Early the next morning, the girls woke up, refreshed.

 

"Amazing what a good sleep can do, isn't it?" Fiona nods.

"Yeah." Tiffany agrees. "So, off to the Captain's lair?"

"Lair?"

"What? It's where he lives when he's not out being Seraph Captain or something."

"'Lair' is generally the term used for a  _secret hideout_ , you know. His office isn't particularly secret, and it's not a hideout, either."

"Whatever!" Fiona says, shaking her head.

"Whatever you!" Tiffany retorts.

"How about both of you are right?" Deborah interjects.

Tiffany and Fiona freeze with their mouths open, and look at her. Fiona sighs. Deborah had played that trick so many times when they were young...

"How about double whatever on you?" Tiffany retorts.

Deborah stares at her.

"What? Double whatever, so neither of  _us_  are whatevers. You want to twin-curse me and Fiona with being whatevers,  _you_  can have our whatevers, which make a double whatever!"

"But I apparently can double the whatevers that are already being thrown around, so now  _both_  of you are double whatevers!"

"You're quadruple whatever!"

"You're both quadruple whatevers!"

"You're... octuple whatevers!"

"You're both octuple whatevers!"

"You're... sixteenuple whatevers?"

The threesome collapsed laughing.

"Whatever." Fiona says. "Let - "

"Whatever, yourself!" Tiffany retorts.

" _Tiffanyyyyyy..._ " Fiona groans miserably.

"What? You called me a whatever!" Tiffany says again.

"Did not!"

"You did!"

"How about this - nobody's a whatever," Petra says tiredly from the door. "You all need to agree that saying whatever - "

"Hey! Don't call us whatevers!" Deborah cries.

" _Oh, noooooooohhh_ ," Petra groans, flopping down on the floor. "Andrew! Get over here..."

"What're they doing now?" Andrew asks resignedly, poking his head in.

"They're getting in another one of those word arguments, where they pick a random word and think they're calling each other names. And now, Deborah's in on it.  _Save me._ "

"What's the word?"

"Whatever."

"Yeah, he's a whatever too! Now, we've all been cursed with being whatevers for the rest of our lives, and we can all go about our day!" Tiffany says brightly, fearing Andrew's expertise on the matter.

Deborah,  _not_  knowing Andrew's expertise, wants to continue. "But - what about Mat and Ayla? They need to be cursed!"

Needing to play along, Tiffany and Fiona join in. "Oh, right!" Fiona says. "But where are they?"

"They went home last night, they're back in Shaemoor, with Katherine and Richard."

Fiona gasps. "There's a whole family that's  _never been cursed with whatevers!_  We need to save them!"

" _ **WHATEVER!**_ " Andrew bellows.

The girls are startled into silence.

"See? Now the whole world's been cursed, and you don't need to worry about it!" Andrew says cheerfully.

"That's right!" Tiffany declares, wanting it to be over.

"But wait - the whole world didn't hear that," Fiona tells Andrew. "Andrew, you go to the highest spot on Divinity's Reach and do it again. I'll go to Rata Sum, Deborah can go to the Grove, Tiffany can go to the Black Citadel, and Petra can go to Hoelbrak. We'll all bellow 'whatever' and say 'compliments from Andrew the tavernkeeper.' Then, we'll appoint someone else in the city to do it on a regular basis, so all the travelers that weren't there when we did it get cursed, too."

"Ooh! And Captain Thackeray can go to Orr, and the rest of Destiny's Edge can go to Cantha, and Elona, and to the lost asuran cities, and the other places where Elder Dragons have their minions!" Tiffany says excitedly.

"Let's do it!" Fiona and Deborah chorus. "Come on, lets go!" the threesome leave the room, and Andrew and Petra hear the door slam outside.

Andrew and Petra exchange terrified glances.

"Well... we'll spare Divinity's Reach and Hoelbrak, anyway," Petra says with a weak smile.

"I'm more worried about the part where they say 'compliments from Andrew the tavernkeeper,' honestly." he says.

"Or about how they'll get Destiny's Edge to go to Orr and those other places. Do they go all together, one after another, or do they split up?"

"The latter's more likely, they can't stand each other, for some reason," Andrew says.

"Well, hopefully no one knows who Andrew the tavernkeeper is."

"Captain Thackeray does, and he'll come straight here and ask what happened."

Andrew and Petra have got down to the first floor, by now, and Andrew is preparing the tavern to open for the day.

" _ **WHATEVER!**_ " comes a shout from outside.

Andrew closes his eyes a sighs one long sigh. The door busts open, and a bunch of children appear at the door.

" _ **WHATEVER!**_ " they shriek again. "You're cursed!"

"NEXT!" one child shouts. They all leave the tavern, and Andrew can hear them doing the same at all the other houses.

"They actually did it," Petra whispers in shock.

"They knew I wouldn't do it, so they got a children's gang. Well, at least that leaves out the part about it being my fault."

"Maybe they just did that here," Petra says uncertainly.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Captain Thackeray's office, three girls arrive at the door, stifling giggles. They get themselves under control and knock on the door.

"Come in," says Captain Thackeray. "Oh, who's this?"

"This is our sister, Deborah. When we rescued our friend Mat, she and a couple others were also being held prisoner. I believe they were all part of the Screaming Falcons."

"Really?" the Captain says in surprise. "Do you know what happened?" he asks her.

"Only that when the centaurs attacked, they knew everything. Tactics, not to mention the place we were going to be, and that there'd be all of us. They were obviously lying in wait for us, which means they must also have known our patrol route. How they got the information I don't know, Captain." Deborah reports, standing at attention. "Only a few of us survived, and we were taken prisoner and later sold to the bandits."

"Thank you for reporting in, Sergeant." says Captain Thackeray. "But at the moment, we have other things to discuss. We can talk afterwards. Oh, and did you hear anything about the Ministry Guard striking a deal with the bandits?"

"Yes, Captain." Deborah replies. "Like I'm sure my sisters have told you, the Ministry is letting bandits out on the condition they make the Seraph look bad." her mouth twists in a grimace. "I don't know much else about the situation, though."

"Thank you, Sergeant. Now, you two." the Captain gets right to the point. "Protecting the orphanage and the hospital is only a temporary victory. Serentine is clearly helping the bandits, both from your reports and from Serentine's own actions - she's shown up late to every crime scene recently and she's disrupting investigations."

"So what can we do?" Fiona asks.

"Can't we arrest her?" Tiffany speculates.

"Not without evidence. A confession would work, of course. She's probably planning to break Big Nose Ted out of jail, she doesn't know he's dead."

"Hmm. Could Countess Anise disguise us to look like those bandits?"

"That's a brilliant idea," Countess Anise agrees. "We'll all go in."

Nobody disagrees. "Can I help with the disguising?" Fiona asks Anise. "I want to learn how."

"Sure."

"You can come along too, Sergeant, if you like," Captain Thackeray says to Deborah.

"I would be honored, sir."

"Wait, what? What's up with my face? Why do I have to be the burned one?" the Captain complains to the Countess as she works her magic.

"It's not permanent, so stop crying." Anise sighs. "We need to be in the cells before Serentine arrives. Let's move."

Captain Thackeray looks like Blaize, Countess Anise looks like Deadeye Della, Tiffany looks like Big Nose Ted, Fiona looks like Twitchy Jake, and Deborah looks like Uptown Johnny.

* * *

In the cells, there is noise coming from underneath the floor grates.

"Don't talk," Tiffany whispers. "She might hear us."

"Ted? Springing you is becoming a full-time job, you troll-faced goon. Come on, I'm getting you out of here." Serentine says.

"Thanks, Commander, but I'm not Ted… and you're not going anywhere."

"The game is over, Serentine." Captain Thackeray says. "If you want to live, throw down your weapons. Now."

Meanwhile, Tiffany had thrown Fiona a grimace. She was  _so_  not used to calling other people - especially bad people - Commander. Fiona returns the look.

"Clever. Finally one step ahead of me, eh, Logan? Too bad you won't live to brag about it. Guards—leave no one alive. That's an order."

"What are we waiting for? Rush them!" Captain Thackeray says.

"Logan, wait! Don't rush in!" the Countess cries.

"Get Serentine!" Tiffany says, whirling into battle with her blades, clearing a path. The disguises drop and copies of Fiona and Countess Anise appear.

Tiffany has a hard time getting close enough to Serentine to engage in combat with her, as the Ministry Guard is relentless. So she falls back, letting the clones, Deborah and Captain Thackeray hold them off while she shoots over their heads. The arrows get reflected off a magical barrier that the Commander erected, but it's obviously a strain on her. Tiffany smirks - for all that Serentine calls the Seraph useless, or tries to make them so, she's pretty weak herself - especially as the reflected arrows hit her own soldiers, and she doesn't even care. Beorn is helping the Captain.

Deborah has an illusionary blade, courtesy of Fiona, and is weaving an elaborate dance through the attacking soldiers, striking left and right in a precise fashion, and dodging every hit. Tiffany is watching that in amazement, and she thinks she knows why the Screaming Falcons were referred to as the elite Seraph unit.

Eventually, Serentine drops her shield, and Tiffany's arrows fly true - Serentine tries dodging, but by that time most of the guards have been defeated, and Deborah is on her. Serentine draws her own blade, but is no match for the former Falcon side-by-side with Captain Thackeray, plus Tiffany's arrows. The illusions are dealing with the remaining guards.

Serentine doesn't surrender, and eventually one of Tiffany's arrows strikes her heart and she collapses. One last energy orb from Fiona hits her, bounces off and dissipates, but it ends the Commander of the Ministry Guard - not a huge loss, in Tiffany's opinion.

"That was exhilarating… and effective." Countess Anise comments. "Commander Serentine's little "work release" program is officially shut down."

Tiffany grimaces again. She supposes she'll never get used to it... and if she does, it'll be just in time to  _not_  need to get used to it, just her luck.

"You've won a major victory for your queen, Captain, but it wouldn't have happened without the help of our new friends." Anise tells Logan.

Tiffany winces - she's been trying to stop thinking of him as Logan, but it's hard when somebody else is calling him Logan a lot.

"Anise is right. Congratulations are in order. You have more than earned the gratitude of the Seraph, all of you. Enjoy your victory. I'll be in touch with you again soon. Divinity's Reach can always use someone we can trust. And Sergeant, report to my office later, we can discuss Falcon Company after I've dealt with this Ministry mess."

"We'll be ready." Tiffany says.

"I'll be there, Captain." Deborah says, saluting.

"I like your style, both of you," Countess Anise is telling Fiona and Tiffany, while Logan - Tiffany winces again - is giving Deborah more information. "If you ever want to consider and long-term commitment to the queen, I can put in a good word for you."

"I - " Fiona starts, but Tiffany interrupts her speedily.

"We're honored, Countess."

Captain Thackeray turns to Tiffany, and she realizes Deborah is leaving the room.

"We make a good team." he says to her. "I've missed having... an effective group. The Seraph are one thing, but..."

"I know what you mean, Captain." Tiffany says. She suppresses a smile as she thinks how much more true that is than he realizes.

"I'm glad you were here... Every team needs a good ranger."

"My bow is my constant companion. Beorn too, of course. He's the bold one of the pair. Our strength will shake the foundations of the world."

Logan seems shocked to his core, and even seems slightly angry. He is mumbling under his breath. "Our strength... if you are bold..."

Tiffany pretends not hear him.

"Tiffany, we have to go," Fiona says.

"May you never dwell in darkness. The road is long, and I wish you well." Tiffany says to the Captain, leaving him dumbstruck as she leaves the room.

As soon as the pair get out of the Seraph headquarters, Tiffany lets out the maniacal laughter she'd been holding in. A couple bystanders look at her oddly, but she just waypoints to the Salma district, still laughing.

"Tiffany, what - "

"It's working, it's working!" Tiffany gives Fiona a feral grin.

"What's working?"

"My plan for Destiny's Edge!"

"Is that what those odd words to Captain Thackeray were?"

"I was - " Tiffany pauses for another burst of laughter. "I was quoting Caithe, Eir and Rytlock!" she dissolves in laughter again.

"Oh. Okay?"

"Oooh... I couldn't remember any quotes from Rytlock, those woul've taken precedence... but still! Ah ha ha ha! I just hope it works... further."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, is it going to impact how... how Captain Thackeray reacts when Caithe calls them all together in Lion's Arch... in however long it is? Anet's horrible with those shorter times."

"Hopefully."

"I'll try and impress the threat of the dragons on him during Kellach's thing-a-whatever."

"Oh, that reminds me," Fiona says as they approach the inn, "we still need to go to the capital cities of Tyria and scream 'whatever' at everyone. Oh, we need to go back to Captain Thackeray's office and tell him - "

"Tiffany - oh no..." Petra had run out to greet them, but dissolved in a well of despair at Fiona's words.

"What? It's not fair that only our family is cursed with whatever's."

"Tell me you didn't mention it in front of Captain Thackeray, please..." Petra begs.

"We can at least curse the neighborhood," Fiona says, ignoring Petra.

"Right! On three. One, two, three - "

" _ **WHATEVER!**_ " they both shriek for the whole neighborhood to hear.

Immediately windows slam open on all sides, and hassled-looking adults look out. "Would you  _stop_  - oh did  _you_  two put them up to it?" one woman says tiredly. "We've been hearing that all day!"

Tiffany and Fiona look at each other. "Oops... run! Let's go infect Rata Sum and the other places!" Fiona says.

"After them!" the children who were around the corner yell. " _We're_  the chief whatever-spreaders, they can't go steal our glory in Rata Sum!"

"We're the ones who told you about it, so there!" Tiffany says, turning around and running backwards. "And we need to pick up Destiny's Edge to help us, as well." she signals Fiona and both girls stealth and come back to the inn by a circitous route.

"By the Six!" Andrew yelps when they unstealth in the tavern. "You need to  _not_  do that!"

Tiffany blinks at Andrew. She does speedy-calculation in her head. "Ten." she corrects.

"W-what?" Andrew says in confusion.

"Ten. There's the Six human gods, and then there's the four main Spirits of the Wild... oh and the Pale Tree. That's eleven. The 'gods' the charr had weren't really gods, and the Eternal Alchemy doesn't count."

Andrew bangs his head on the counter with a groan. "I suppose next you'll be saying there's seventeen."

"Seventeen? Why - " Tiffany sighs. "Andrew, the dragons aren't gods!"

"They might as well be," Petra argues, coming in. "They're probably as indestructible as the gods."

Tiffany snorts. "Hmmph. Just because they embody natural elements doesn't mean they can't be destroyed."

"Powerful, though," Petra sighs. "Way too powerful."

"If you have enough people and a good leader, anything is possible," Tiffany says quietly.

"Yeah, and I bet you think you're that leader," Andrew snorts, leaning his head on his hand.

"Oh, no way. Not leader of enough people to make a difference, anyway. Somebody else would have to do that."

"Like who, Queen Jennah?"

"She's a good country-ruler, but... in a war against Zhaitan? It would have to be somebody who's like... I don't know, just have that type of personality. Charismatic, and with a strong will, probably.  _I_  don't know." Fiona had been shooting Tiffany dark glances this whole time, looking meaningfully at Andrew and Petra who were looking at Tiffany with raised eyebrows.

"You seem to know a lot about killing dragons and ruling people." Andrew says dryly.

"Oh, no. I'm just good at knowing what's necessary and what needs to be done." Tiffany says, looking at the ceiling.

"I suppose you're describing someone you think is fit for the job of leading an army into Orr," Petra says flatly.

"Not really. Hmm. Fiona, does anyone we know fit that description?" there was the forcefully but subtly implied  _yet_  in the sentence.

"Naw, not really... Captain Thackeray, maybe?" Fiona says, scratching her head.

"No, he wouldn't do, he's too much of a pure fighter. We can't just use pure numbers to defeat Zhaitan - or any dragons."

"Why are we discussing who's going to lead the peoples of Tyria against Zhaitan?" Andrew asks tiredly. "There's not enough of any of the races to defeat Zhaitan, even with a leader like what you're describing. All the races'd need to be united."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Petra snorts.

" _ **WHATEVER!**_ " Fiona bellows again, maing everybody jump. "No, I actually mean it this time. I agree with Andrew, why are we discussing this?" she raises an eyebrow at Tiffany, who rolls her eyes.

"I don't know, for something to talk about? I like discussing what-ifs, you know that."

"Whate - er - what sort of what-ifs?" Petra asks, barely catching herself.

"Like what we were just discussing. Now, Fiona, I want to stretch my legs a bit. Want to go take a walk or something?"

"Sure," Fiona shrugs. "Where at?"

"We could go to Eda's - it's been like three or four days since we saw them last, and nobody told her Mat was missing. And if they did, then she's not heard he's back. We'll walk."

"Er... okay?" Fiona says.

"Let's go, then!" Tiffany says cheerfully. She peers back cautiously at the tavern. When it was out of earshot, she starts talking. "So, first order of business: tonight, we sneak into Deborah's room, hopefully while she's still awake reading or something. We stealth, sneak up behind her, and tickle her, shouting 'don't be frightened!' in a big scary voice." Tiffany barely manages to keep her composure, and doubles over laughing right after the last sentence.

" _Tiffannyyyyy,_ " Fiona groans. "Whyy?"

"What?"

"You - ugh! You always need to steal other people's ideas?"

"It's  _funny_ ," Tiffany says dramatically. She looks at the sky and falls a step or two behind Fiona.

"But, Tiff - "

"Don't be frightened!" Tiffany shrieks in Fiona's ear, tickling her.

" _WHA -_  " Fiona shrieks. " _Tifffffahnnnyyyyyyy,"_  she cries in despair.

Tiffany bursts out laughing and doesn't stop for several minutes. "Toldja it was funny," she says, wiping away the tears of laughter. "That's the longest laugh I've had since Falcon did those terribly horrible ridiculous fake impersonations of Canach..."

Fiona bursts out laughing, too. "Re - remember that time he made a part-parody of ' _Seagulls, Stop it Now_ '?"

Tiffany needs to hold onto a wall to keep herself upright. " _I was walking in jungle, and I said - Dragon, stop it now! Ohh ahh ahh ohh oh ahh!_  See, that's not  _very_  funny, but he was - he was - "

"He was pretending to be Canach, yep." Fiona says amid another fit of laughter. "SO ridiculous."

They leave Divinity's Reach and enter Shaemoor. Tiffany panics.

"Oh, Fiona, did you put up a sound barrier? If you didn't, I'll kill you."

"Oh. No... I didn't... why?" Fiona says slowly, with a puzzled expression.

"We just - " Tiffany's voice rises higher and higher as she goes on. "- talked about Canach being totally weird and laughing our heads off while walking through Divinity's Reach, and you  _didn't put up a sound barrier? What were you thinking?_ "

"No, I did." Fiona smirks. "No worries."

"Run for your life, you - you !" Tiffany growls, beginning to chase her.

After a few minutes, Tiffany gives up. "I give up!" she yells.

"Great. And don't underestimate me again, Miss Ranger Girl. I can put up sound barriers when I know you'll be flopping lifelessly all over the place with laughter."

"Flopping lifelessly with laughter?" Tiffany raises her eyebrows.

"You're obvisouly posessed when that happens, sis. Something influencing your thoughts?"

"That's it," Tiffany declares, stealthing. Fiona glances around nervously. " _Gotcha!_ " Tiffany cries, pinning Fiona's arms behind her back. "Now, die!"

Fiona rolls her eyes.

"I mean it, Fi. Dagger = you're dead."

"Even if you do mean it, you can't." Fiona drawls.

"Why not?"

"One word, two syllables: Trahearne."

"You know me too well," Tiffany grouches, letting go of Fiona.

"You're the one who made a bazillion parodies about having to kill him, and then sang them loudly all over the house every day all day," Fiona points out mildly.

"You're the one who listened to them. Actually, you didn't. You walked away and said ' _what_ ever' - "

"No,  _you_  said whatever!" Fiona argues.

"I know. But you too. Anyway, we're out of populated places, let's talk about the serious things. First up - Tyria. Family."

"Right." Fiona says glumly. "Think we'll ever see them again?"

"I haven't seen hide nor hair of a PC since we came here," Tiffany replies, looking at the ground.

"So, no hope?"

"None. Even if we could see PCs, but not people we know, it would still be better than... this. I mean, I know these people aren't NPCs, they're real people, but... it just seems empty. At least... well, I suppose if there were PCs it'd be reassuring that real life wasn't all a dream or anything. As it is... well, let's just say I'm homesick. It's been nine days, which is a week and two days. Longest I've been away from any family - 'sides you, of course - is one week. And nine days shouldn't bother me - it doesn't - it's the prospect that we've no hope of getting back, and it's been nine days."

"I know what you mean. We'll never see  _anyone_? Anyone we know?"

" _We only have each other/It's just you and me/What are we gonna doo?_ " Tiffany sings softly. " _Do you wanna read a book?_ "

" _Do you wanna climb a tree?_ " Fiona replies.

" _We used to be a family/But now they're gone/Never to be seen agaain."_

" _Do you wanna go see mama?/Come back, dada./There is no way home/Let's go try."_

" _We only have each other/It's just you and me/What are we gonna do?"_  Tiffany sighs again.

" _What we're gonna do is this, Tiff:/We'll live life to the fullest/Here in Tyria or on Earth."_  Fiona says determinedly.

" _I've started planning/Saving my other friends/Ready, Fiona?"_

" _There's no reason not to/All these innocent friends/Just watching them live their lives."_

"Okay, let's do this!" Tiffany declares. "Wow, we got the syllables mostly right, too..."

"You and your mind!" Fiona grumbles. "Why did I ever agree to tell you the syllables for things when you got stuck on your stupid parodies?"

"Because I could've asked Mom or looked it up," Tiffany answered promptly. "And if you didn't, I'd know it even better from trial and error. You know, 'Fiona' has three syllables, even though it should only have two. Fio-na is what it should be, but it's Fi-oh-na."

"Tiffany..."

"Fine, fine. Now, other topics that need discussion: Deborah."

"What about her?"

"Should we tell her? Like, if she swears to tell no one?"

"She's a Screaming Falcon."

Tiffany blinks. "So-oh. I do  _not_  want a screaming Falcon here. Falcon's annoying enough as it is... why'd they have to name their group Screaming Falcons again? Falcon, screaming. Ugh. But, we're not counting that against Deborah. She doesn't even know who Falcon  _is_ , much less that he's an annoying... ugh."

"Anyway. Should we tell her?"

"It wouldn't be...  _right_."

"I know what you mean. The... she'd feel betrayed. Not to mention, she'd be insulted we'd seen her as... well, as a golem, for Tyrian terms. Even though we don't anymore. Everyone else, too."

"Yeah, let's not. But we won't just leave one day - like in GW2. We do the level ten quest, we see our family. Maybe we see them for level twenty. But after that, we never even set foot inside our home instance for any part of the story! From level twenty on... and as far as the end of HoT, nothing. That's three years. So, maybe Tiffany Soul/Solestrider can handle it, because she knows she can go back, but that's her family. Not the Tainos family."

"Yeah."

"Oh, Fiona! One thing. The Orders."

"Huh?"

"The Vigil, the Order of Whispers, and the Durmand Priory."

"Oh, them. What about 'em?"

"Which ones are we going to join?"

"I don't know!"

"I was thinking, I'll join the Vigil, you'll join the Priory, and we'll both sneak around and join the Order of Whispers."

"I want to be in the Vigil!"

"Do you know much about the Vigil?"

"No, but I like them!"

"I know in detail all the missions for the Vigil, and you know no details about any of them, except perhaps the leaders names. We need to go where we'll do the most good for applying our knowledge. If we both join Orders we know nothing about, all we do is follow orders, and by the time we know enough to get to work on dropping hints about uniting against Zhaitan, they'll already be united. Whereas, you won't know anything much whatever Order you join, and I'll know a lot if I join the Vigil - only if I join the Vigil."

"Why would we split up, anyway?"

"Because we're Whispers at heart. I'll tell the Order about the Vigil, you'll tell the Order about the Priory, and you'll tell me about the Priory, and I'll tell the Vigil about the Priory, and I'll tell you about the Vigil, and you'll tell the Priory about the Vigil, and we'll tell the Priory and the Vigil all about the Order. So all the Orders know everything about the other Orders, and instead of the Vigil calling the Priory bookworms, they'll actually know what the Priory do and how valuable it is. And maybe they'll still call the Order backstabbing cowards, but at least it won't be be backstabbing honorless cowards. I don't know what the other Orders think of the Vigil, but it's probably not nice. The Priory might think the Vigil are ignoramus idiots for rushing into battle without extensive knowledge of their foe, and stuff like that."

"You talked too fast, I got confused over when you said Order and Orders and orders. But I got the gist. Do you think that the Vigil would like us telling the others all that?"

This stops Tiffany short. "I hadn't considered that."

"What about the Order of Whispers? You know how they are about privacy. If they thought you were spying..."

"Okay, ditch that plan," Tiffany said immediately. "What, then? Even if we don't spy, we should still join the Priory and Vigil, and both in Whispers. Even if we don't spy, it's useful to have such knowledge. Hey!"

"What?"

"Who's going to be Commander?"

"...What?"

"Only one person can be Commander, and which of us do you think it'll be? We can't both be Commander!"

"Who knows? I don't think Trahearne would care if there's only two Commanders normally. But let's not worry about that now, that's Trahearne's problem."

"I like the way you say that. 'that's Trahearne's problem.' It's just funny. Hmph. Everything about Guild Wars is funny. Except for - "

"Yes, yes, yes! I know!" Fiona groans. "It's all you can talk about!"

"Except for Anet makes no sense." Tiffany says flatly.

"That too," Fiona said acceptingly.

"Anyway. Do you like my plan for Destiny's Edge?"

"Explain it in more detail?"

"Well, step one was impressing the fact of 'leave your group, that's okay, but  _return_  after.' He didn't do the return part."

"And step two?"

"All throughout defending the hospital and the orphanage, I was mostly behind him, shooting."

"So?"

"That's probably what Eir used to do. It'll get him thinking, and he slipped up and almost said Destiny's Edge once, right after. I also did that while we were fighting Serentine."

"Good job so far."

"Then... see, in the original, it's already got him thinking about Destiny's Edge. He says 'We make a good team. I've missed having...never mind. I'm just glad you're here.' This time, though, he mentions working with a team. And I told him," Tiffany pauses for a giggle, "I told him I know what he means. And I do, so much more than he thinks. He said every team needs a good ranger, and I referenced Eir. The quote at the top of her wiki page says 'If you are bold enough, your legend will live forever. - Eir Stegalkin' So I said something about how Beorn was bolder than I was - he's my tank, you know - and he was already thinking about Destiny's Edge. It made him recall that quote - he mumbled the first few words under his breath - and I pretended not to hear."

"Wow, yeah."

"And then, when you said we had to go, I quoted Eir and Caithe, and Rytlock to him. Some things they say when you click F to greet them, but are also suitable for farewells also. She says 'The road is long. I wish you well.' when you greet her sometimes. Caithe says 'May you never dwell in darkness.' I combined the two and came out with 'May you never dwell in darkness. The road is long, and I wish you well.' And then, he was saying what a good team we make, and I told him that me, my bow, and Beorn will shake the foundations of the world. That's from Rytlock. Hopefully it'll get him thinking."

"You've got this going like a fire, Tiff. And the end goal?"

"To get him thinking about Destiny's Edge. We make a good team, you know that? And this last fight, with Deborah fighting right there with him, too, and arrows flying over his head, probably gave him flashbacks to when it was all Destiny's Edge, slayer of dragon's champions. I hope that one quote from Rytlock, along with ones from Caithe and Eir - whom he carries next to no resentment towards - will get him thinking. Problem is, I don't know why Logan's angry with Rytlock, other than Rytlock accuses him of being a traitor and other stuff like that."

"Hopefully." Fiona nods.

They walk in silence for a few minutes.

"Weren't we supposed to being going to Eda's?" Fiona asks after a minute.

"We've just been walking aimlessly, and we've not got paths yet."

"Huh?"

"Like, at home, I automatically walk from the hallway, through the livingroom, around the island in the kitchen, back through the hallway, when I'm not thinking about where I'm going. We don't have commonly-tread paths here, so we've just been walking aimlessly."

"Huh."

They were by the Fields Waypoint, just after the bridge near Shaemoor. Tiffany and Fiona lean against the railing and close their eyes for a moment.

"Well, lets get going. Waypoint or..." the words die off in Tiffany's throat. Ahead of them, a cluster of people dressed similarly to them - just a bit more colorful - are standing around talking. The two girls are too far away to hear, but there are five of them. Two rangers, an elementalist, a thief, and another elementalist. The girls can tell by their dress, and the two rangers are dressed much less colorfully than the other three. "Fiona, are those players?"

Fiona glances around. "Yeah, probably, look - " she points. There are colorfully-dressed people running all over Shaemoor, of all professions. Theirs were the movements of a player - abrupt stops, instead of slowing down, the limited use of skills, the apparent healing of players without them doing anything...

"Wow. Players!" Tiffany marvels.

"Yeah."

"Fiona - elementalist and thief. What's familiar about that?"

Fiona glances at the huddle of five, still talking. "...nothing."

" _Mom and Dad played an elementalist and a thief_."

"Tiffany!" Fiona says with a high-pitched squeak.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! (Fiona, you reading this? Dun dun dun! rofl)
> 
> So. Biggest cliffie I've ever done. Don't worry, it'll all be resolved - ehh, partially - enough - by the end of next chapter.
> 
> You will see.  
> *dramatic music*  
> You. Will. See.
> 
> Oh and... I know we're reallllllllly being very weird in this chapter... with those ridiculous parts about Canach... yeeah. To this day I have not got a single idea whyyy it's funny, except that I think crazy things are funny, and I laugh when things are totally rediculous or out of character. If you've got any questions about that... or if you don't get it... or anything like that... just review. I think I'm crazy weird, and Tiffany is even crazy weirder than me for _not_ saying that she's crazy weird all the time.  
> And I'm weird for trying to explain my weirdness - it's an unexplainable weirdness.
> 
> Oh and... no copyright infringement of the song _Do You Wanna Build a Snowman_ intended.


	10. Reunions and Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiffany and Fiona's family had to have had some reaction to seeing their daughters/sisters disappear into a map, right? This chapter catches them up to speed and intersects with Tyria.   
> And then, completely unrelatedly, Logan has a nice long think about what Tiffany said to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we gooo!  
> So, remember: "Mom and Dad played an elementalist and a thief!"  
> Guess what? Perspective change! This is out of the eyes of - the Tassof family! (at least for the first part.)  
> This is a long chapter - longer than the last chapter, I'm quite sure. And a lot of information revelation.  
>  _ **Okay, here's the story now:**_

 

 

" _That_  looks  _weird_..." Fiona says in a creeped-out tone of voice, taking a step back. "I'm  _sure_ something's wrong with it."

The glow grows stronger, and brighter. Both girls stumble back, shielding their eyes. Then, as quickly as it started, it is gone. So are Tiffany and Fiona... kind of.

Harrison shrieks. "Mommy! Daddy! Come see this quick! It's magic!"

"Let me see! Harrison, what is it?" a little boy comes running into the room, but stops short. "Are they ghosts?"

"What is it, Harrison?" Joslyn calls from the next room.

"The map Tiffany and Fiona got started glowing, and now it's not, and Tiffany and Fiona are ghosts!" Nate hollers.

"Mommy, come see! What's wrong with them?"

"What is it, Harrison?" asks an older boy, entering the living room from the hallway.

"Look, Falcon! They're ghosts! The map they got started glowing, and now they're ghosts!"

"Mom!" Falcon shouts suddenly. "Tiffany's a ghost and now she's fiddling with the map - what! She turned into Zojja!"

Joslyn enters the room, expecting to see Falcon dressed up as Fiona and Eden dressed up as Tiffany dressed up as Zojja, but what she sees is entirely different.

Zojja is standing, in a misty ghostlike form, on the rug in front of the wall, facing her, with her back to the back door. She seems to have just turned from looking at the wall. Between them is Fiona, who is looking at Zojja. Both are laughing, but Joslyn can't hear any noise. Then, Zojja turns and pushes an invisible button on the wall, and she turns into Tiffany.

"Phillipe! Come here! Something's happened to Tiffany and Fiona!" Joslyn calls. It's a Saturday, so the head of Tassof family is home.

"Yes?" he opens the door of his bedroom where he'd been catching up on some work.

"Look!" Joslyn nods at Tiffany and Fiona. "They've gone all... and Tiffany looked exactly like a Guild Wars character!"

"Let me guess, she looked totally rediculous and started laughing her head off."

"No, she did look exactly like Zojja!"

"Mommy, look what - wait, what's wrong with Tiffany and Fiona?" says Eden, as she runs into the room. "They look weird!"

Tiffany and Fiona had started changing. Their bodily features - how tall they were, how long their hair is, and other things. It seemed associated with how they moved their hands on seemingly invisible controls on the walls. Phillipe drew a large square on the white board, and tried to figure out where their hands were when they changed, and so what the control did. There was one control that made both girls start laughing, but the Tassof family couldn't figure out what it was. Other than a couple others like that, Phillipe charts out the control panel pretty easily.

Tiffany and Fiona are still changing - and Falcon is laughing his head off, same as the girls' silent laughter. "They're turning into other people, too! Ooh, it's funny!"

Then, a voice echoes through the room, and Tiffany and Fiona seem to hear it, too.

"Create a character that will represent you - forever. Once created, you will enter Tyria as a world. It will be real life from then on. You are smart enough to know what that implies."

Tiffany seems surprised, and says something that the Tossaf family can't hear. Both girls get to work on creating a character that looks just like them. One button, when pressed, readjusts their hight to match. Some buttons don't seem to do anything. After some discussion, they start moving their fingers in a familiar pattern - that of a keyboard. Tiffany and Fiona, each girl typed in respectively. Then, they both hit a button in the lower-right corner that hadn't been touched before, and the ghostly images of Tiffany and Fiona warp and twist, spiraling into each other as if a reflection in a bowl of water being stirred by a spoon, and then they disappear. As if an echo, the same voice from before speaks:

"Remember, this is real life... there is no such thing as an NPC... "

The Tossaf family is staring in shock.

Laura runs up to the map and starts hitting it, making baby noises. "Uh! Uh! UUH!" she says.

Vinn approachs cautiously her, as if curious.

The rest of the family slowly approaches the map, now hanging limply where Tiffany and Fiona had tacked it up. It seems innocent enough.

The family starts investigating the map, running their hands over it, looking at the underside of it, but nothing.

"They got pulled into Tyria, as real life." Falcon says at last. "That's what the voice said. Forever."

"Forever?" Harrison asks in seven-year-old awe.

"Can we go into Tyria?" Nate asks. "It sounds fun."

"Even if we could, you shouldn't, Nate. You'd probably have to kill people." Falcon tells him.

"But I'd only kill bad guys!" Nate protests.

"You're  _six_ , Nate. No way you're killing people." Joslyn says authoritatively.

"But what about us?" Harrison asks. "Can't we get into Tyria? What's Tyria anyway?" he asks, confused.

"Tyria is..." Falcon stops. "Tyria is Guild Wars."

The family looks at Falcon in silence.

"So we go into Tyria when we play Guild Wars? It's not like what happened to Tiffany and Fiona," Harrison tries to clarify.

"No, they are playing Guild Wars like it's real life," Falcon corrects. "At least, that's what I'd assume."

"So it's like Virtual Reality, for them. Except it's not." Joslyn says.

"Yeah, I guess," Falcon shrugs. "I don't know much about VR, but I'd suppose so."

"So we should be able to interact with them if we play Guild Wars, too." Phillipe says.

"They're both humans." Falcon says. "Me and Harrison already have characters, and didn't you and Mommy used to play?"

"Yes. I'll have to make a new character, though, I was a sylvari and I never explored the human starting zone. I'll see if I can find a way to have the computers use sound - "

"Tiffany's laptop has sound, and so does yours, Dad," Falcon tells him. "That leaves Mommy's laptop and the computer in the alcove. You could also do the other one in the computer room, but we only need two fixed."

"Actually, only one. I have two laptops for this project," Phillipe tells Falcon. "But, what about Nate? He wants to play."

"Nate would have trouble with it, but he can try," Falcon shrugs.

"Why don't we just use headphones?" Joslyn says. "The audio ports work. And you don't need sound for Guild Wars, anyway - you've been doing it without 'till now."

"But we don't know how Tiffany and Fiona'll appear," Falcon argues. "Will they be like NPCs, or players? Will they be a mix? It's hard to pay attention to NPCs unless you're on a quest if you don't have sound. Mainly because they don't matter unless you're on a quest."

"We'll try it without, first." Phillipe says.

"Let's get on then, what are we waiting for? They're probably done with the tutorial already!" Falcon says. "I'll use Tiffany's laptop."

"No, Nate'll use Tiffany's laptop. She doesn't want you on hers, but she always let Nate play." Harrison tells him.

"I'll need someone to type in the password," Nate says.

That stops everyone short. "Only Tiffany and Fiona knew Tiffany's password," Falcon says with wide eyes.

"I could probably guess it," Phillipe offers. "Is there a hint?"

"It just says 'me'." Falcon says flatly.

"So, we'll try all her usernames," Phillipe says brightly. "And if that doesn't work, I could always wipe it. Like we did for your phone, Falcon - erasing all the memory."

"Tiffany won't like that  _at all_. None of her fanfictions are saved to the cloud," Falcon tells him. "Except the ones she's already posted, which is like one eighth of what she's got. She would be maaad..."

"Didn't you hear the voice?" Phillipe says, his voice breaking a bit. "Forever, it said. She won't be back to use her laptop."

A hush falls on the group, interrupted only by Laura and Vinn's playing. They're too little to understand.

"What do you mean, Daddy?" Eden asks uneasily.

"Tiffany and Fiona are gone forever, Eden," Phillipe says sadly. "We won't see them again."

"She doesn't understand, Phillipe. She's only four." Joslyn says softly to him.

"We should tell Tangwen," Falcon says suddenly. "She'd want to know about something like this."

"Yes. We'll tell Tangwen." Joslyn agrees. She gets up and goes to the phone.

"I'll find the headphones we used with EverQuest. The rest of you get on your computers and get on Guild Wars," Phillipe says. "First, I'll see if I can unlock Tiffany's laptop."

* * *

"You know how Tiffany and Fiona are always talking about Guild Wars?" Joslyn says. "They bought a map, and it pulled them in. They'll not be back, but we're logging in to Guild Wars - or creating a new character, if Phillipe can't find our old account - to see if we can locate them. You want to come on over and get the details, or create an account of your own and play?"

"They got pulled into Guild Wars?" Tangwen says, stunned. "I'll be right over."

* * *

"I got it!" Phillipe yells. "Her password is [blank]!"

"Can I get on now, please?" Nate begs his dad.

"Just a moment, I want to see what happens when I log onto her account. Anyone know her account password?"

"Yeah, it's [blank]," Falcon tells him.

"Really? For Guild Wars? As much as she obsesses over it?"

"She obsesses over the NPCs, not her account," Falcon says dryly.

"But - but that's, like, Tassof default!" Phillipe protests. "Eden could log onto her account!"

"Eden can't read, Dad. She's four. But yeah, if she did know how she'd get it. I'm sure there's a change password button somewhere." Falcon tells him.

"Okay, log in... wait, what?"

"It says the account has been deleted or temporarily suspended," Falcon notes.

"Okay then, Nate. Do you have a Guild Wars account?"

"No," Nate says. "But I watch Tiffany, and Fiona, and Falcon, and Harrison play, and I think it's fun."

"Okay then. Falcon, can you create an account for him? I need to find those headphones for you."

"Sure," Falcon agrees easily. "Okay, Nate, what's your username..."

* * *

_Knock knock_.

"Tangwen is here!" Harrison yells, opening the door.

"Hey, Harrison! What's up with Tiffany and Fiona?"

"See that map?" Harrison says, pointing to the wall, off to the left. "It started glowing, and then Tiffany and Fiona were kind of ghosts, and then they kind of  _twisted_ , and disappeared."

"Wow, that's impressive," Tangwen tells him. "Where's your mom?"

"She's in the alcove, trying to locate her and Daddy's old Guild Wars account."

"I see. So, you're all logging on to try and find them?"

"Yep."

"Falcon made me a Guild Wars account!" Nate yells, running in the room, followed by Falcon. "Now I can play Guild Wars on Tiffany's laptop!"

"That's great, Nate!"

"Hey, you rhymed!" Harrison tells her. "Great, Nate!"

"So I did," Tangwen says. "Isn't that cool?"

"Anyway, we're almost ready. Do you have an account?" Falcon asks her.

"No, I think I used yours, but I don't remember anything," Tangwen tells him. "I'll start out with a new account. Can you show me how to make one?"

"Sure. You'll want to install Guild Wars on your computer at home, though, because I doubt you'll have time to come here every time you want to see Tiffany and Fiona." Falcon tells her.

"Yeah, I'll probably do that. Is your dad busy?"

"He's looking for the headphones we used with EQ, so we can have sound. We don't know if they'll show up as NPCs or PCs or somthing in-between, and it's hard to notice NPCs unless you have sound. They probably don't have a chatbox or anything. If you just want to talk to Daddy, he should be free, he'll just be looking while he's at it. Or maybe he's found them already." Falcon informs her.

"Thanks."

"But Tangwen, I want to show you my account!" Nate says.

"I can do that in a few minutes, okay Nate? But I need to talk to your dad real quick, first."

"Okay."

"He's probably in the shed, Tangwen," Falcon tells her.

"Thanks, Falcon. I'll be back in a minute."

* * *

In the shed, she found Phillipe going through the old desks that were in there. He'd already laid one pair of headphones to the side, apparently.

"Hey, Tangwen!" he says, straightening up from peering inside a drawer. "Joslyn told you what happened?"

"She did, but I don't have too many of the details. She's busy trying to resurrect your old account, so I thought I'd come ask you."

Phillipe sighs, and leans against a wall. "Well, how Harrison says it, the map started glowing, and then Tiffany and Fiona were replaced with ghost-like things. He called Joslyn, and Joslyn called me, and we watched Tiffany and Fiona fiddle around with what appeared to be character customization controls, and it was affecting  _them_. They click a button - we can't see the buttons - and they get taller, or their hair turns a different color, or something like that. Some buttons don't do anything that we can see. They're obviously talking, but it's like there's a mute button on. Then, this... voice starts talking, which we can hear, and they obviously can too. It says to create a character that will be  _them_ , because they're being pulled into Tyria and that's where they'll live from now on. So they create their character - and they look like normal, I suppose there's a default button or something - and then it's like they are a reflection that gets stirred by a spoon, before vanishing."

"Just like that?" Tangwen asks.

"Just like that. We combed through the map, but it didn't... I don't know what we were looking for, but it didn't do anything other than be a map. Falcon came up with the theory we could find them by logging in to Guild Wars, and we haven't got any other theories."

"Seems like a sound theory to me. Tyria is the name of the world?"

"As much as Middle-earth is the land the Lord of the Rings takes place in, yes. Tangwen, they're gone. The mysterious voice said 'forever'. I..."

"Don't worry. If we don't find them in Tyria, it'll just be like they're dead. We'll see them in heaven."

"I suppose..." Phillipe barked a laugh. "I always teased Tiffany about how she always said 'I suppose', and here I am saying it."

"There's no reason we won't find them in Tyria, though. It'll be fine. I know my brother's got some spare headphones, maybe we could use those?"

"That'd work. Come to think of it, I doubt we even  _have_  enough headphones. I got two for playing EQ with, about a year ago, but they were flimsy and stuff and are probably broken. I've got the ones I normally use, I think there's a pair in the computer room, and there's these. That's three out of... hm. Well, we only have three computers that don't have sound, that should be enough."

"Do you have enough computers for all of you?" Tangwen asks.

"From what Falcon said, I think Nate'll get discouraged easily. I've got two laptops on this project, which me and Joslyn'll use, Tiffany's laptop is used by Nate, which leaves the two computers and Joslyn's laptop, which don't have sound. Falcon and Harrison'll use the laptop and the one in the computer room, I suppose you can use the one in the alcove?"

"How're we going to communicate? I don't think there's enough room in the computer room for all of us."

"Tiffany's laptop has TeamSpeak3 on it, if Nate turns the sound up we'll all be able to communicate just fine. My laptop has it, too."

"What about the one in alcove?"

"We'll just have to install TS3, then. Let's go, I forgot we only needed three. That's if there is one in the computer room."

* * *

"Found it yet, Joslyn?"

"No. We'll just have to make another account."

"Oh well. We'll need two, you can't be two on the same account. Can you do that, along with one for Tangwen?"

"Sure."

* * *

"Okay, let's log in this game," Phillipe says into his computer.

"Got it." comes clearly through Phillipe's laptop's speakers.

"Create a character that looks as much like you as you can, we're all doing humans since that's what Tiffany and Fiona are, and if we look like us we'll be more recognizable."

"Great. Names?"

"If you don't use your real name, use a recognizable alias. This is Tiffany and Fiona we're looking for."

They all appeared, one by one, over the next couple minutes. After joining up as a group and completing the tutorial, there was still no sign of Tiffany and Fiona.

"Okay, let's spread out. Don't approach things too far from your level, or you'll die. Tiffany and Fiona have had a long time to be doing things, completeing the tutorial and stuff, so just look for them. They look like themselves, remember, and they didn't dye their armor."

"On it."

* * *

Over the next hour or so, the group combed the countryside, gaining levels as they went.

"Still no sign of them!" Falcon says frustratedly. "They can't have gone far."

"No hope of them following the 'stay where you are and we'll find you more easily' rule?" Tangwen asks.

"Nope. This is Tyria, they know this land pretty well, and they probably haven't thought much about the repercussions of this."

* * *

"It's time for me to get off and make dinner, children, what do you want?" Joslyn asks

"Just stick some pizzas in the oven, we need to keep looking." Phillipe says.

"It's dinnertime already?" Tangwen says in surprise. "I need to be going home. I'll install Guild Wars 2 and TS3 on the computer at my house, and I'll log on and look whenever I can. It won't be often, though, and probably not at the same times as you guys. I'll send a message over Slack when I do get on."

"See you, Tangwen. Don't forget to log out and remember your password and things." Phillipe reminds her.

"See you." the connection to the computer in alcove falls silent, and Phillipe hears her leaving.

* * *

Over the next week, the group logs on in every spare moment, leveling up and combing the zone of Queensdale. But still no sign of the girls.

After a few days, Nate had stopped getting on, since all the others wanted to do was find the girls, and only Harrison wasn't as devoted as the rest of them.

* * *

"It's still odd, not seeing Tiffany and Fiona around the house, smiling, and babbling about Guild Wars. Just... odd." Joslyn says to Phillipe one day.

"I keep expecting to see Tiffany chatting on Slack with the grandparents and Tangwen, and commenting on things in the different channels." Phillipe replies. "But  _everyone's_  more subdued."

The pair are using the video call function on Slack to talk, as Phillipe is out of town.

"Laura likes curling up in Tiffany's blanket nowadays," Phillipe says, recalling the antics of the baby for he left for the week.

"Oh, she liked doing that even before Tiffany disappeared. She just... does it more, now." Joslyn sighs. "Eden has started complaining that the room is too quiet at night. Tiffany's not sharing new bits of lore with Fiona, there's no one to remember to leave the light on to charge up the glow-in-the-dark snowflakes on the wall, no one to keep the room clean... I'm starting to think we should maybe get one of those little-kid mattresses from the trailer and have her sleep in our room. It's not right that four-year-old sleep in a room alone, but the boy's room is full."

"Yeah, you should do that. Remind her not to wake up Laura, though."

"And I'll unlock the girls bathroom to the boys. There's no use leaving it open to the girls room and not the boys, when it could be both and nobody's in the girls room anymore."

"Yeah, do that."

* * *

"You think they  _are_  in Guild Wars?" Falcon asks Joslyn and Phillipe one day. "I mean, it's very complicated - there's instanced zones for the personal story and stuff, there could easily be a separate instance that Tiffany and Fiona are in. I mean, it's been a week!"

"We'll just keep trying."

* * *

"I'm starting to hang behind, guys - I just can't keep up with you in levels and exploration radius. I'll keep looking, don't worry - you have to keep coming back to the home instance, don't you? I can cover that place. See if they ever pop up."

"That's a good idea. I think you do keep hanging around Shaemoor and to the west of there for a while, too, you can cover that."

* * *

"What makes it confusing," Falcon says one day - one of the rare times they're all on at once. "is that there's so many players, and so many NPCs. And it's not like someone who's in-between'll  _look_  different."

"So what're we doing, looking at all the humans - NPC or not - and seeing if they look like Tiffany and Fiona?" Harrison asks.

"Pretty much."

* * *

"This is so cute, but also kind of annoying - in the home instance, there's this gang of kids running around screaming 'whatever' at me, and saying I'm cursed to be a whatever forever." Tangwen says.

Joslyn switches tabs to Google Chrome, and looks at the wiki page for the Salma district home instance. "There's nothing on the wiki about that. The children simply walk around, and there aren't even that many of them."

"Odd."

"Alright, it's been nine days. Let's all get together by the Fields Waypoint - I linked it in chat - and discuss things more. It'll just be different if we're face-to-face." Joslyn says.

Phillipe is near to that waypoint, and just has to run over the bridge. Like usual, there's PCs and NPCs alike on the bridge, but he's not concerned. He simply goes near to the wapoint, where the rest of the team pops up.

They gather in a circle, and Joslyn starts speaking.

"We've been looking for nine days," she says. "Still, no sign of Tiffany and/or Fiona. The only thing of note is that the children are behaving oddly in the home district."

"In the storyline, you have family." Falcon speaks up. "I wouldn't be surprised if the girls went to visit them. Maybe they stirred the children up?"

"As we haven't seen hide or hair of them, I doubt it. And as the children are NPCs, I couldn't ask them who put them up to run around screaming 'whatever'." Tangwen tells them.

"Think we should go investigate it?" Falcon asks.

"Nah, it's not worth it. They're NPCs, we can't interact with them meaningfully, as such." Phillipe says, shaking his head, even though they can't see it. He sighs and types /me shakes his head [enter].

"Tiffany!" comes a shrill shriek from halfway down the bridge. Phillipe spins around, and glances up and down the bridge. He espies two girls staring at their group having just started up from leaning against the railing. The names over their heads are the color of friendly NPCs, however - dark green. He wouldn't have noticed it was them if it wasn't the actual names - Tiffany and Fiona Tassof.

"Tiffany! Fiona!" he yells, running over to them at full speed.

"Dad!" Tiffany shrieks, running over to him. She hugs him tightly, but it's not right... "You didn't get pulled in, did you?" she says, looking at him. "It doesn't feel right to hug you when you're not  _you_."

Phillipe scrolls his screen in to first-person view. "No, we didn't. We're just playing. We thought we might find you."

"It's been nine days!" Joslyn says.

"Same for us." Fiona says.

By this time, the rest of the group came over.

"We could only tell it was you because we know you and Mom used to play elementalist and thief. I suppose these two are Falcon and Harrison? And - Tangwen? You're here!"

"Of course I'm here! I wouldn't not!" Tangwen says. "You disappeared into a video game, what was I supposed to do, not ever play a video game again as retaliation?"

"No. It's just we're so excited to see you all. We didn't see any PCs at all until a minute ago." Fiona tells her.

"Really?" Joslyn asks.

"Nope, just people." Tiffany sighs.

"Huh?" Harrison asks.

"They're not NPCs, they're actual people. Not computer programs. We've already changed the storyline - at least for us - quite a bit." Tiffany says proudly. "Destiny's Edge will get together sooner, hopefully."

"So I bet you don't call them NPCs."

"Nope. If we did, we'd have to tell them that an NPC is a computer that doesn't have feelings and it doesn't matter if they die, which we're not doing. Because they're not."

"I see."

"Hmm. We really have a lot of computers, don't we? The whole family can play at once, down to Eden, if Dad lets somebody use his laptops. Not counting us, of course. Are you using TeamSpeak or something? Because you sound like you."

"It would be a nightmare if we weren't." Tangwen says. "We're talking out loud, and apparently it transfers into the game noise, as well. That's cool."

"It is. And it's... interesting, no NPCs."

"And we made friends!" Fiona pipes up. "And - hey! We can't introduce them without explaining the whole game thing!" she groans. "Well, we can introduce them from a distance. PCs can 'hear' things from farther off than they should be able to, right? Even if you don't hear us, it'll still show up in chat. I'm not sure if their names will show up as children or as Mat and Ayla, though."

"Was it you that put all the kids in the Salma district up to screaming 'whatever' at me all day?" Tangwen asks sternly.

Tiffany and Fiona look at each other and burst out laughing, holding onto the bridge railing for support.

"Y-yeah, that was us," Tiffany says after a moment. "Us and Deborah."

"Who?"

"Our sister, in Tyria. We're twins, and Deborah's our older sister. We saved her, she was a prisoner of the bandits. Another odd thing that happens is that we have all memories from lives before we were here. A lot like us, so nobody's been like 'what why are you acting weird'. It's... nice. Oh, and we cleared out the Bandithaunt caverns about a week ago. Has it been a week already?" Tiffany turns to Fiona.

"Wait, a whole week? Yeah, it is! Wow. Feels like yesterday."

"We need to visit Mat and Ayla, anyway. We'll introduce you from a distance - hey, Mat and Ayla are the same age as Eden and Nate! and Ayla has Eden's hair. Kinda. You'll see. Watch only, though - I don't know how people in Tyria see PCs."

"So, there's PCs, but not NPCs?"

"Yep. There's PCs and people." Fiona nods.

"It's a very good thing I studied lore before we came here, though," Tiffany says as they walk through the village of Shaemoor. "I had a hard time recalling how Fiona can heal."

"Healing..."

"Yeah. Mine is just a shout, so I say the words, but Fiona's default is just click 6 and heal, but there's no  _method_. It just happens. But then she remembers she's got an option to use a signet. And it's the only one we can do. My bow is super-cool, though, and since we're not PCs, I can do crazy things, like hitting people on the head with the shaft. Or stabbing people with the arrows."

"And you've got knives," Fiona adds.

"Yep. I copied Thom Merrilin, Mom."

"Let's see it," she says.

The group is at the end of the bridge now, by Trainer's Terrace, which Phillipe notes is a point of interest. Tiffany picks a tree and scratches a target. She backs off and turns around.

She spins, and knives fly from her sleeves. They all hit the mark - on the hilt.

"Hitting with the hilt doesn't do much good."

"It does if I don't want to dull my knives," Tiffany tells Phillipe, picking up her knives. "Fiona, gimme a real target."

A copy of Fiona appears.

"Not you, like, a centaur or somthing," Tiffany scolds. "I'm going to kill it."

"How about Tra - "

"Don't you think about it, Miss. Careful of the people."

"Fine, fine. Here, take a centaur."

Tiffany looks at the centaur, and back at Fiona. "Make it realistic, Fiona! I mean really! It's no fun if it doesn't fight me."

Fiona rolls her eyes, and centaur gallops in to attack. Tiffany whirls around the centaur, striking it fatally here and there. The centaur attempts attack, but Tiffany keeps dodging out of the way. Eventually, she stabs it through the heart. Then, she realizes other centaurs are on her. She throws knives this way and that, striking them through the heart.

"We heal as one!" she cries, vaulting over a centaur that Beorn is mauling.

She pulls out her sword and finishes the last centaur with a flourish, before stowing it again.

"Hoo! You've gotten good at this, Fiona!" Tiffany says, inspecting a cut on her arm. "You had to poison me, didn't you? Beorn!"

The brown bear roars, and bits of green dust evaporate out of the wound, before Tiffany heals it. "Forgot about Beorn, didn't you?"

"You named your pet bear Beorn?" Tangwen says delightedly.

"After the skin-changer in the Hobbit, yeppers." Tiffany agrees. "Gwahir, too." Beorn vanishes and Tiffany's pet eagle unstealths. "Meet Gwahir the Windlord. I actually named them this in the game, before I got pulled in. There weren't enough space slots to name him Gwaihir the Windlord, so I took the first i out, because it was one over the limit. But I suppose it doesn't matter about space slots, because we live in Tyria now."

"Do you have any other pets?"

"Oh, several, but they don't have names. I can't recall any named spiders in anything I've read, can you? Ohh, but there's Shelob, the gigantic spider Frodo and Sam encountered on the pass to Mordor! I forgot about her. Those three are really the only pets I use."

"You've got a knack for naming, I see," Tangwen says.

"You wouldn't say that if you'd known what I was going to name my kids before we got pulled in here," Tiffany says dryly. "I'm a big old copycat."

"How so?"

"I stole Mom's tradition of using family names for second names, and the first names are the major NPCs." Tiffany says flatly. "And there's no way I'm doing that here, ohh no. People like Canach would kill me if I named my kid after him - " Tiffany starts laughing at the thought. "Zojja, too. And Rytlock. The rest would either think I was weird, or be honored." she thought for a moment. "And the family names that were on Earth aren't the ones I have here. Here, I have Deborah, and Petra, and Andrew. And Fiona. And that's all, because Anet doesn't like giving people ancestry. And this world functions like Anet told it to. Hey! Fiona, we were adopted! In the lore, Andrew and Petra adopted us, and they did for real, too! Cuz now we live here, not there, and..."

"Wow." Fiona says after a moment of thought. "Yeah."

"Anyway, let's 'introduce' you to Mat and Ayla." Tiffany says.

* * *

Captain Logan Thackeray is thinking things over. It's a foregone conclusion in his mind that the young girl - Tiffany - didn't know she was quoting his former friends. If she did, she wouldn't have quoted Rytlock. He snarls at the desk in front of him at the thought of the charr.

He sighs and leans back, staring at the ceiling of his office. The sergeant - Deborah Tassof - had given him valuable information about Falcon Company, most notably those of the elite group who weren't with them - off duty, or in the hospital. He had sent some of his more senior officers to question them, to get to the bottom of the demise of the Screaming Falcons.

But he found he couldn't concentrate on that, now he had some free time to think. Some of his Seraph lieutenants in southern Kryta were friends with the Lionguard in the area, which were complaining about Risen further south, along the Tarnished Coast, but closer than usual. They would start terrorizing Krytans, soon, and the dragon probably wouldn't sleep for at least several decades. The Seraph weren't strong enough to face that. The Captain knew all this.

But Tiffany Tassof's words earlier had sparked the unbidden idea that, although the Seraph couldn't deal with Zhaitan's minions, Destiny's Edge could try. They'd almost succeeded against Kralkatorrik. Logan snarled at the tabletop again. ' _But we don't have Snaff'_ , he thought. ' _Or Glint. And Rytlock wouldn't agree to help Kryta - he's more concerned about his precious Ascalon.'_

Unbidden, the thought forms in his head that he feels the same way about Ascalon - if Kralkatorrik came back, and Zhaitan didn't, would Logan care if the Ascalonian charr were wiped out?

' _Of course I would care,_ ' Logan tells himself. ' _Kralkatorrik would come after the norn, and then humans, once it'd conquered Ascalon. I can't afford to ignore that threat. However Rytlock's acted in the past, it doesn't define all charr, and the Queen's trying to do a peace treaty with them. They're not monsters._ '

Logan sighs. He recalls the Queen's words to him, one day soon after the breaking of Destiny's Edge. "You're too noble for your own good, Logan." She'd said those words many times over the years.

He recalls Caithe's words - and, more recently, Tiffany's: "May you never dwell in darkness."

He thinks over what it could mean. He'd always assumed it to mean the darkness of the Nightmare of the Dream the sylvari had, and that it was perhaps a traditional sylvan greeting - or farewell - but it took on a slightly different meaning, now. The darkness of uncertainty is just as bad as the darkness of the Nightmare. The darkness of uncertainty in the face of the darkness of Elder Dragons, however, was much more vast.

' _Am I uncertain about anything?_ ' Logan asks himself. Logan realizes that uncertainty is a big weakness. If he'd been uncertain about going to save Queen Jennah - or later, uncertain that he'd made the right choice - it would have just been all the more hard to bear Snaff's death. If he'd been uncertain, he would have blamed himself, the same way Zojja and Rytlock did. But he wasn't uncertain, he was firmly decided. Even the fact the Snaff had died because of choice didn't sway his determination that he'd done the right thing - which was what Rytlock didn't understand.

Logan snorts to himself. ' _Rytlock is being contradictory. He is a charr, his very culture is embedded in the loyalty to the chain of command - the higher up the rank, the more loyalty you show. Sure, most charr are more loyal to warbands than to legions, and maybe that's all Rytlock expects from a human, but the Queen and I are as close as most warbands, I suppose. Rytlock's problem is that he thinks Destiny's Edge is closer than that.'_

Logan thinks about that. Saying Destiny's Edge isn't closer than that - that's its further - sounds wrong. ' _Destiny's Edge is as close as Jennah is,_ ' Logan concludes. Unbidden, the thought arises - ' _Then why did I choose Jennah over Destiny's Edge?'_  He ponders that for a while. He thinks about Destiny's Edge and their adventures, and about the Queen and their magical bond - the one that had called him away from his group on that fateful day.

'The road is long. I wish you well.' Logan thinks about that a bit - Eir had said it many times. He'd thought it to mean a literal road, a traveling one. But it could also mean the road of life - 'Life is long. I wish you well.' It subtly implied that however long life lasted, the people she said it to would always receive a well-wishing from her. She'd reserved that farewell to her closest friends. Logan had never thought about that before. She'd said it to Snaff, to Zojja, to everyone. ' _Eir doesn't hate Zojja,'_  Logan realizes. ' _It's Zojja that hates Eir. I know Eir cared about Snaff, and still cares about Zojja. About all of us._ '

One thing Caithe asked him a lot was whether he had wisdom to share. It was worded many different ways, but the core was the same. She wanted trust between the group, for everyone to know everything so that they could play to everyone's strengths. Logan hadn't talked it over with the group, as was customary, before making a decision. He'd rushed off to save Queen Jennah with barely an explanation. When he returned, everyone was angry at each other, and none of them explained anything. They'd just shouted at each other before going their separate ways, each angry at another. Caithe's idea of 'sharing wisdom' had not let them astray, it was not listening to her reasoning that split them.

None of them had listened, they'd argued while Caithe tried to tell them to calm down. They hadn't listened, none of them had. Logan hadn't asked for advice when he left, he hadn't explained why he hadn't - or anything - and neither had anyone else. Zojja had flared up and cursed Eir into oblivion, and Eir had reacted by blaming herself and withdrawing into a shell. Rytlock had blown up at Logan, accusing him of desertion and of being a traitor, and Logan had retaliated by leaving - again. He was only the first, Eir left soon after, followed by Zojja storming off, and Rytlock had disappeared a while before that, all ignoring Caithe's pleas for calm and order.

' _For all Rytlock knows,'_  Logan thought, ' _I am a deserting traitor. I didn't tell anyone anything when I left - I simply left. Rytlock's a charr, and that's how charr react to deserters, I suppose. Maybe they react worse, and Rytlock restrained himself, thinking how I'm not a charr. If he had been right, then the things he said were totally appropriate.'_  This revelation was a shock to Logan. ' _And Kralkatorrik was right on our doorstep. Eir probably made the split-second decision, without talking it over with the rest of the group. Zojja's always had a fiery temper - it's no wonder she blew up at Eir as she did. Eir is smart, she probably realized too late the wisdom of Caithe's words, and that's not her fault. Caithe had probably realized the one error we all made, and was trying to fix it with the same words of wisdom that worked so well before. But none of us listened.'_  Logan was surprised at his own insights. ' _Destiny's Edge fell apart because of the lack of communication._ '

Within the Seraph, communication is key. Ranks are always used to avoid confusion, soldiers always identified where they are stationed when they report for the same reasons. They speak clearly, and when they want to voice an opinion on something, rather than fact, they made sure that is understood. Commanding officers, if their wording is unclear, will clarify sometimes by telling their subordinates, 'that's an order'. Locations are identified very specifically - instead of saying 'southern Kryta' they will say 'Triskell Quay'. Different units are referred to by different names. The Screaming Falcons were an example.  _They_ had gone down when the enemy had done something unexpected, and there was no time to issue commands or  _communicate_.

Communication is key  _everywhere_  - within familes, in the ruling of cities, in everything! The peace treaty with the charr requires delicate communication. And part of the reason for the war with the charr in the first place is communication - charr ears aren't tuned to hear human's voices easily, and proved to be a great irritant. That is part of why you couldn't get into a war with golems - the communication they received was precise and to the point - you can't tell a golem to vaguely 'patrol this area'. You tell a golem 'go from point A to point B, and if somebody with this description or who acts this way comes near, attack them by doing X,Y, and Z'. You can't misunderstand communications like that. And if you misheard, well, there's a reason the word 'what' exists. And after a communication fail, communication still exists to figure out what the problem was, how to fix that particular problem, and how to avoid misunderstanding a second time. ' _Communication is how it gets communicated that communication is important!'_  Logan thinks dryly. ' _You can't live without communication.'_

Logan wonders why he'd never thought about any of these things in relation to Destiny's Edge before, and concludes that the breaking of the group was too painful to dwell on, and so he'd avoided the topic even within his own mind. Logan sighs. ' _Communication is hard'_ , he thinks. ' _How do I tell everyone that I'm willing to communicate now?'_  he wonders with a snort. ' _Since when is Rytlock going to listen to a single word out of my mouth, either?'_

The door bangs open. "Captain Thackeray?"says a soldier.

Startled, Logan sits bolt upright. "Is there a problem, soldier?" he asks.

"N-no, Captain," the soldier reports, puzzled. "Queen Jennah has sent for you."

"Thank you for reporting, soldier. You may go back to your station." Logan replies.

The soldier salutes and leaves the office.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

How do you like it? I... I may have taken the 'Logan thinks about things' sections farther than I intended. I also found a pretty solid reason for Logan to not have thought about all this before, but Tiffany's words got him thinking - as intended - just perhaps more than she expected. And perhaps it happens to fast - I'm not sure, because it took me forever to find the right way to word it so it didn't seem like he was making super-powered leaps from one conclusion to the next, but maybe it seems like that anyway... oh well.

I eat reviews for lunch, breakfast, and dinner. One chapter is one meal, which means I've gone three days and a morning with barely enough food. Feed me, please! I'm at your mercy, just feed me!

And no copyright infringement of the series ' _The Wheel of Time'_  intended, the character  _Thom Merrilin_  is not mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you like it? I... I may have taken the 'Logan thinks about things' sections farther than I intended. I also found a pretty solid reason for Logan to not have thought about all this before, but Tiffany's words got him thinking - as intended - just perhaps more than she expected. And perhaps it happens to fast - I'm not sure, because it took me forever to find the right way to word it so it didn't seem like he was making super-powered leaps from one conclusion to the next, but maybe it seems like that anyway... oh well.
> 
> I eat reviews for lunch, breakfast, and dinner. One chapter is one meal, which means I've gone three days and a morning with barely enough food. Feed me, please! I'm at your mercy, just feed me!
> 
> And no copyright infringement of the series _The Wheel of Time_ intended, the character Thom Merrilin is not mine.


	11. Meetings and Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tassof family 'meets' Mat and Ayla. Loose ends and plot-holes (if any) are finished off. Tiffany and Fiona get around to checking on the Bandithaunt Caverns to ensure the bandits haven't started trying to rebuild. (Tiffany and Fiona madness, as usual.)

 

 

 

"Ayla, Mat! Long time no see!" Tiffany says delightedly.

"Long time? We saw you yesterday!" Mat protests.

"Yeah, but you joined Deborah's team. That doesn't count."

"I was on your team," Ayla reminds them.

"You were." Fiona nods. "And we came up with a delightful plan for scaring Deborah senseless - we're going to sneak up to her tonight, and tickle her really hard for a moment, and scream in her ears - "

" _Whatever!_ " Ayla says happily.

"Hey!" Tiffany says in mock indignation. "You called me a whatever!'

"You called me a whatever!" Ayla says angrily.

"But... whatever isn't a name-calling word!" Mat says confusedly. "Why do they think 'whatever' is a name-calling word?" he asks Fiona.

"Because it is, and you called me one!" Fiona says, pretending to be upset.

Mat sighs and joins in the game.

Tangwen and the Tassof family are staring.

"Those kids look like Nate and Eden's age," Falcon observes.

"They do," Phillipe says.

"Let's copy Andrew," Fiona whispers to Tiffany.

"Sure, on three." Tiffany replies.

"One, two, three - " they both whisper together, before shrieking. " _ **WHATEVER!**_ "

Mat and Ayla jump. Tiffany and Fiona start laughing. "Alright, that's enough people," Tiffany tells Fiona. "I think we got all of Shaemoor with that."

"Mat, Ayla, you behaving?" comes a call from the children's house.

"Yeah, that's just Tiffany and Fiona being crazy again," Mat hollers.

"Tiffany and Fiona are here?" Katherine says, coming out of the house. "Oh, how good to see you! I didn't get any time to talk to you yesterday."

"Sorry about that, Katherine," Tiffany tells her. "We wanted to engage Mat and Ayla in a game, since we hadn't seen them for a few days."

"No, it's alright," Katherine replies. "I'm just glad the children are having fun. Mat's been practicing his stone-throwing."

"Can I show you? Please please please?" Mat begs.

"Of course. I want to see how well you apply your lessons," Tiffany says in a pretend-dignified voice. Ayla giggles.

Mat leads the Tassof sisters into the backyard, which is close to hill that is held in by a large wood-worked lattice sort of thing. Richard had carved a large target onto the wood, which already showed scuff marks from thrown stones.

Mat picks up a small, round stone from a pile that was conveniently nearby, and throws it. He doesn't land a bullseye, but he is on the target.

"Good job, Mat!" Fiona praises him. Mat beams. "If you kind of twist the stone as you throw it, it'll go straighter. Why don't you try that next time?'

"Have you done any more baking with Miss Eda?" Tiffany asks Ayla.

"A bit," Ayla tells her.

"So Eda knows that we found Mat?"

"Yep," Mat replies.

"Mat! Ayla!" Katherine calls. "You need to clean your rooms!"

"Coming, coming," Mat grumbles as he and Ayla go into the house.

"See you later, Tiffany and Fiona!" Ayla says brightly.

"Bye!" Tiffany waves.

Tiffany and Fiona approach the PCs.

"How do you know them?" Phillipe asks.

"You know what the human tutorial is, right?" Tiffany asks, lowering her voice.

"Yes."

"Well, me and Fiona were telling people to get to the inn so they'd be safe - because it's  _real_  now - and I found those two hiding from centaurs, and I brought them back. They're children, and we made friends at once. And we've been playing with them for a while now. Doing fun things."

"So I've been replaced, I suppose," Tangwen teases.

"Oh, never." Fiona assures her.

"We wouldn't let you be replaced by somebody from a game - how _ever_  real it may be now!" Tiffany says in pretend surprise. "That's just completly rediculous!"

"Oh!" Fiona says suddenly. "Remember how we went to Ebonhawke and the surrounding areas?" she says to Tiffany. "In the lore?"

"Yeah," Tiffany says.

"We could tell Mat and Ayla they're friends we made there!"

"Ooh, neat idea!" Tiffany says. "Well, they're off doing chores at the moment, we'll have to come back later. How's the family?"

"Laura misses you, I think. She snuggles up in your blanket more than usual. She took a liking to your Jazzy Bear, too."

"Aww, that's cute," Tiffany says. "Just make sure she doesn't break him. He's already got holes..."

"Really, Tiff?" Falcon says, putting his hands on his hips. "It's a teddy bear."

"So?" Tiffany shot back. "Just because you don't care about Jazzy Turtle doesn't mean I feel the same way."

Falcon rolls his eyes. " _What_ ever."

"Whatever! You cursed me!" Tiffany cries dramatically, flinging an arm over her eyes. "How could you  _do_  such a thing? Traitor!"

"Whatever, yourself!" Fiona says in defense of Tiffany.

"I don't get it." Falcon says flatly.

"Well  _that's_  no fun," Tiffany says grouchily.

"I can go get Deborah?" Fiona offers. "It'd only take a moment."

"Sure!" Tiffany says happily. Fiona vanishes in a puff of blue.

"What - " Tangwen starts, surprised.

"Waypoints," Tiffany says simply. "They still exist for us."

"Cool!" Falcon says, in awe. "You can  _actually_  waypoint?"

"It was so fun the first couple times, you're right, but it's gotten old by now." Tiffany tells him.

"Well that's no fun!" Falcon complains, just as the nearby waypoint glows blue and first Fiona, then another girl appear.

"Deborah!" Tiffany cries dramatically, flinging her arm towards Falcon. "He cursed me! With the you-know-what!"

"He did, did he?" Deborah says dangerously. "He'll pay."

"I cursed him back already," Fiona informs her. "He hasn't got a clue how serious it is."

"Not know about the curse? Not know how bad it is?" Deborah is swelling in anger. "I've got sixteen whatevers stored up from these two, and I double them - as is my blessing to be capable of - and bring them on you!" she flings her hand, palm forwards, at Falcon (who'd also scrolled in to first-person view) and Fiona produces a streak of blue that flies out of Deborah's hand and into Falcon's chest.

Falcon blinks. "What?" he says crossly.

"Who is this boy?" Deborah asks.

"A friend we met in Ebonhawke. They all came to visit." Tiffany says cheerily. "I don't think they've been cursed, any of them."

"But - you've both been cursed eight times, and - wait, did you get Mat and Ayla?" Deborah asks.

"We got Shaemoor, yeah, but not these guys."

"Okay, let's curse 'em!" Fiona says. "Whatever!" she tells them.

"You cursed me!" Tangwen says in surprise. "You really have replaced me!"

"Oh no," Fiona shakes her head. "You've only been cursed once. Deborah's got sixteen layers of it. See her suffering over there?"

Deborah looks straight up at the sky, raising her hands upwards. She flutters her hands dramatically, trembling, before collapsing into a sitting position, placing her head on her knees, and rocking back and forth while moaning.

"There's no way we'd give you that much trouble. We can't curse our other friends at all, they don't have your sense of humor. You saw Mat over there. So, we have to just pile up the layers on those who do have it, as a sign of our extreme friendship that you didn't declare us not friends anymore because we just-so-happened to curse you a bazillion times." Tiffany says brightly. "That means you need a bazillion curses, as a sign." she frowns. "I can't do a bazillion curses on my own."

"Ohh, I see," Tangwen says. "I could curse myself. Oh, and what about them?" she says, cocking her head at the rest of the Tassof family.

"Hrmm." Tiffany says, looking at them. "They don't understand. It doesn't work if they don't understand."

"Where'd you get the idea of such a curse? And why 'whatever'?" Phillipe asks.

"Whatever," Tiffany says with a flap of her hand.

"Tiffany..." Phillipe says.

"See?" she says. "I don't care enough about you to tell you, and that's why we picked whatever! It's the perfect word!" she says brightly. Phillipe facepalms.

"We got the idea... I don't even know how we got it, we've been using the curse since really young. Since before Deborah left... although Andrew never got involved before she was captured."

"Who's Andrew?"

"The person who adopted us!" Tiffany says in surprise. "We never told you? Ebonhawke must be good for memory-loss," she said, subtly warning them.

"Oh, him." Phillipe says. "I forgot his name."

"You have been let off this once," Fiona says in a fake high-and-mighty voice. "We will not be so lenient next time."

"So, Deborah, how did the talk with Captain Thackeray go?"

"Pretty well, actually. He asked me who else was part of the Screaming Falcons - "

"OOhh!" Falcon says. "You named your group after me!"

"No we didn't!" Tiffany says in terror. "We'd never name the elite Seraph unit after you, and certainly not you screaming! That would be - "

" _Tiffany!_ " Falcon screams. " _How are you doing today?"_

"See?" Tiffany says miserably. "He's  _annoying_."

"He's your little... friend," Phillipe tells Tiffany dryly. The implied ' _brother'_  is obvious. "He's  _supposed_  to be annoying."

"That doesn't make it better," Tiffany replies flatly.

"W -  _anyway_ ," Tiffany says. "You were saying, Deborah?"

"He asked me who else was part of the Screaming Falcons that weren't ambushed. There were only a few. A guy named Hal, and Dansky was on sick leave. There was a guy I knew, named Bigsby, but he wasn't a part of the Screaming Falcons. He might still have useful information, though, so I told the Captain about him. I told him about Captain Tervelan - he's the highest-rank Seraph in the area - and maybe he could talk to him. He seems pretty interested in getting to the bottom of the Screaming Falcons."

"They were a good unit," Tiffany agrees. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to restart the group. I saw you fighting back there, against Serentine and her goons, you were awesome."

"It's how all the Falcons are trained to fight - don't be there when the enemy hits you, and study how the enemy moves so you can predict where they'll be and hit them. And things. Which was why the Screaming Falcons were so successful - they knew enough they rarely got hurt, which was why only Dansky was on sick leave."

"It's still awesome," Fiona tells her.

"Well, if this little boy here doesn't need cursing, I need to get back to the tavern, it's a busy day today."

"Oh, sorry if I pulled you away," Tiffany tells her. "Does Petra need more help?"

"Naw, you can stay and hang out with your friends." Deborah says, before vanishing with a puff of blue.

"Okaaaay," Tiffany sighs. She kind of shakes herself out, wiggles her arms and legs as if to relieve tension. "It feels so good to not have to watch my speech. Tyrians haven't even heard of dominoes."

"Dominoes?" Phillipe echoes. "How would that come up in a conversation?"

"We conked out the bandits in the Bandithaunt Caverns, and burned all their stuff - their woodwork platforms and everything. I commented to Eda how they fell over like dominoes, and she didn't know what they were. So I told her I invented them, and what they were - wooden blocks."

"Pretty inventive daughter you have, Phillipe," Tangwen says jokingly. "Who'd ever have thought to invent wooden blocks?"

"You, of course." Tiffany says promptly. "I think the word 'dominoe' is the creative part. In Tyria, anyway. I think I'm good at recovering from slip-ups, myself, and not making them in the first place."

"We don't know what Tyrians don't know, so we have to guess." Fiona scowls. "Nobody knows about the gingerbread man."

"What's so important about that?" Tiffany asks. "It's a gingerbread man." she says flatly.

"I know, but it's weird."

"What gingerbread man?" Harrison asks.

"Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me - "

"Oh, that one," Harrison says.

"So I've got no idea why we  _care_  - it's not like we ever mention him much at home, either, but, like Fiona said, it's weird."

"Whatever," Tiffany says dismissively.

"Tiffany, you - " Fiona starts.

"Fiona, please? It was a joke and I can't live without saying whatever!" Tiffany begs.

"Okay. But we still need to go to Hoelbrak and Rata Sum and the Grove and all those places and curse everyone."

"But you said it doesn't work if they don't understand," Tangwen points out.

"Hrrmmm. So, you can have all their curses, because you understand," Tiffany tells her. "I won't say it a bazillion times, but I'll think it a bazillion times and then say it once out loud. As long as you know that's what's going on, it'll work."

"That makes sense..."

"Whatever!" Fiona says. "Alright, she's cursed."

"That fast?"

"I'm a mesmer, and I have barely used up my mental power today. I just created a bazillion invisible clones, had them all think 'whatever' once, and then I channeled it into one word."

"Cool. Wait, a bazillion clones...?"

"Invisible ones take less willpower, mostly because they can't do anything. The willpower is from sorting through all the sensory input to direct individual ones to do whatever it is, but I didn't need to do that, I just directed them to all think 'whatever'. I couldn't do that and it be effective in a battle."

"Thanks for the curse," Tangwen says dryly. "I'll be sure to tell my mom to watch out for crazy behavior like... Deborah, right?... Like Deborah was doing."

"Oh, yes, that will be a problem," Tiffany says seriously. "Hmm. There's no counterspell, Fiona?"

"Well, it's a I-don't-care-about-you curse, so what could we say to counter that?"

"I know!  _Friends_!" Tiffany replies excitedly.

"Yeah, okay. So now, we give her a bazillion counter-curses, and since we use the curse to indicate friendship, the countercurse being 'friends' will just exponentially increase that!"

"Cool!"

"Friends!" Fiona says after a moment.

"Alright, it's been sealed," Tiffany says. "You are officially a trans-dimension friend. That means you'll stay friends no matter which dimension we're in. Not that you weren't before, you understand. It's just official, now. The most important part is that you understand what just happened. Do you?"

"Of course! You cursed me with a curse that we bond over, and then you did the countercurse that we bond over even more, and so now we're trans-dimensional friends," Tangwen says promptly.

"It's lunchtime, girls. We all have to go," Joslyn says.

"Oh boy, that sounds weird, we're in Tyria," Tiffany shakes her head.

"We'll be back... some other time, I guess." Phillipe says. "How'll we run into you?"

"Mail still works," Tiffany shrugs. "Send us a letter?"

"Ah, right. We will."

"We're guaranteed to be on, because it's permanent. And bring Nate with you next time! And stuff!"

"Will do," Falcon says, before his character winked out. Everyone else vanished in the blink of an eye, as well.

"Good-bye, trans-dimensional friends," Tangwen says with a low bow. "May the Force be with you."

"May you never hold the Ring," Tiffany answered, just as solemnly. "Or, if you do, may it never corrupt you." she says, in a lighter tone.

"You've lost - you've - your hyperdrive is broken, Tangwen!" Fiona says. "The hyperdrive is what sustains your presence here!"

"So, that means she's gone, because her hyperdrive deactivated, and she's back on Earth?"

"I suppose so," Tangwen says. "Well, bye guys!" she vanishes.

"That wasn't nearly as impressive as waypointing," Tiffany says dryly. "Now, we're gonna need to discuss how we pretty much have future knowledge."

"This's gonna be a nightmare."

"We're not going to bother predicting things - we've changed it a bit too much - but we know cause-and-effect, things that'll stay the same. Like the dragons have weaknesses. Or that launching airships at Mordremoth is a bad idea, and at Zhaitan a good one. And that sylvari are immune to Zhaitan, but susceptible to Mordremoth. And things like that."

"And the Pact things."

"Yeah, we can save people. Forgal, and Tonn, and everyone. Ooh, I wonder what it'd be like to actually go into the Dream? You do that at one point. If we haven't changed it too much. We prolly have, half of it... oh wait, we might still... I don't know."

"But hey! Forgal only dies if you're Vigil. Since we're both gonna be different Orders, who dies?"

"No one, because one of us'll be standing by the warning beacon. The reason Forgal died was because he held of the Risen because we waited to long, trying to light that beacon. Half the battle was spent trying to light that beacon. Better yet, convince Watch Commander Talon to  _trust the expert_."

"Expert?"

"Trahearne. He's been studying Orr for twenty-five years, he says there's a gigantic undefeatable horde coming? Ya' trust he knows what he's talking about, I mean really."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"And all you have to do for Tonn is to not explode the ship as soon as the detonator goes green."

"And the other guy?"

"Zott? Just don't stop to celebrate a victory in the middle of a battle, that's what."

"And Eir?"

"The main reason she died was because she was captured when the airships crashed, which isn't going to happen."

"You like figuring out how people won't die."

"Yeah, I'm good at that. Even Scruffy, which was super obvious if you thought about it. Get some connectors, because if the ley-energy map things connectors degraded, those in Rata Novus prolly did, too."

"You're too good at this," Fiona mumbles."Even though I haven't a clue what you're talking about sometimes."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't know!" Fiona throws her hands in the air.

"Whatever," Tiffany says. "I just want to  _relax_ , somehow. I'm all tense. I need a mindless task."

"Killing centuars?" Fiona suggests.

"Sure, lets go do that. Shaemoor garrison need any help?"

"Probably, yeah. Let's go kill something. Who knows, centaurs might get discouraged and stop the war."

Tiffany snorts. "Yeah right, like that's gonna happen."

"That's what we're here for.

"Not any time soon," Tiffany amends. "We'd have to, like, defeat their main base. It's in the Harathi Hinterlands, to the northeast. East of Divinity's Reach, above Gendarran Fields, you know the place?"

"Yeah. Their stronghold's there?"

"Yep. If we got in there, and killed all the centaurs, that'd be real good for the Seraph. Wonder if they have a ruler we could assasinate."

"Would be nice. But anyway, we've got centaurs here and now, so let's get 'em."

"And, Fiona? What  _do_  you think of us having future knowledge?" Tiffany asks while shooting down a centaur.

Fiona sighs. "I don't know, sis. I mean, of course we won't let people die - at least, not the people who died originally, as much as we can - but how are we going to do these things? I mean, you say yourself how there was a long war before we get the idea to use airships, how do we say 'oh, hello, we're from the future and we should use airships to avoid a long bloody war!' I mean really?"

"No, we just suggest it." Tiffany says drly. "Because I think I know  _why_  the airships worked. It wasn't 'Zhaitan's weakness', these weaknesses make  _sense_ , you know? Attacking Zhaitan from the air works because Zhaitan doesn't have any flying minions. He can - undeadify? Risenify? Turn? - anything. He can turn anything, but what can he turn that can fly? Birds? He did turn - or at least transform - some gigantic giants, but the shields on the airships took care of them." Tiffany frowns. "How could they not? It was a game, and I don't think the rocks had any effect on any part of the airship but me. Anyway. Zhaitan hasn't got flying minions. He's only got himself up there, whereas, with the airships, we could have the whole Pact. The biggest problem with dragons, I've come to realize, is not them, it's their minions. Mordremoth's minions can't do anything in his mind - their mind is his mind, and he's just stretched thin in there. Zhaitan's minions can't do anything in the air, because they can't fly. Once the minions are out of the equation, the dragons are a lot less terrifying and powerful. All we need to do to convince Trahearne - once we form the Pact - is ask him if Zhaitan has any flying minions. He doesn't, but he doesn't know that we know that. He's been studying Orr - and, by extension, Zhaitan's minions - for twenty-five years. He'd know from his own experience Zhaitan hasn't got any flying minions. He's smart, he'll probably figure it out just from thinking about how Zhaitan hasn't got any flying minions."

"Wow," Fiona says in amazement. "I can't believe you thought that up!"

"I did have a lot of free time, before we came here. I'd try to get to sleep pondering the whys and wherefores of Tyrian life. And, if I came up with an answer, I'd research it. The one with Zhaitan didn't need any researching, really. It was obvious. Then I thought up Mordremoth's minions and why they couldn't do anything. Honestly, I'll be surprised if each dragon's 'weakness' turns out to be different every time - there's only so much Anet can do, you know. I mean, maybe Kralkatorrik is vulnerable away from his Brand, and that's why he makes a new one wherever he goes? Maybe Jormag will melt if he gets into a warmer climate? Hmmph. I spent ten seconds thinking, and that's what I got. I suppose the dragon's'll all have spectacular why-didn't-I-think-of-that weaknesses."

"You left out Primordus," Fiona tells her. "What's his weakness?"

"He's the fire dragon, we just need to find a way to wake up the deep sea dragon that nobody knows the name of and make them fight, one or the other'll die, and we can finish off the other somehow."

"Or maybe they'll band together and wipe out Tyria. Thanks, but no thanks," Fiona says flatly.

"Yeah, okay. Primordus... water's still a weakness, though, probably. Ooh! Or some fire-protection boon!"

"On the whole Pact?" Fiona raises an eyebrow.

"Grumble, grumble, grumble," Tiffany grumbles.

Fiona smirks. "Stop grumbling."

"Mumble, mumble, mumble," Tiffany mumbles, peering mischeivously at Fiona.

"That's better," Fiona grunts.

Both girls start laughing.

"Oooh, I knew we'd have to do that sometime," Tiffany says after a minute. "Too bad nobody in Tyria gets it... or anyone 'sides Dad and Falcon, either. That we know."

"Well, we get it, and that's what counts."

"Grumble." Tiffany says shortly.  _"Anyway_. Obviously, no, not on the whole Pact - "

"Where were we?" Fiona asks.

"Can't put fire protection on the whole Pact." Tiffany tells her. "So, no, not on the whole Pact, but... I mean, certain races were special against certain Elder Dragons - sylvari couldn't be corrupted by... Zhaitan," Tiffany says carefully, muttering under her breath, "You know how I mix those two up sometimes... and sylvari also were vulnerable against Mordremoth. Now, the reason they couldn't be corrupted by Zhaitan was the Pale Tree. She protects her children from the dragon's influence, except Mordremoth, because 'I'm your creator' which, loathe as I am to admit it, yes, he kinda did. But, that also means sylvari'll prolly be immune to the other dragons as well, unless they use convincing tactics. Also, I heard dragons absorb each other's powers when they die."

"Yyyouch!" Fiona screeches. "Why didn't you tell me this before?!"

"Not all of it... like, Mordremoth was taking dead bodies and turning them into Mordrem. Only sylvari though. And, I think Zhaitan bound the spirits of the dead to make them do his bidding. Because he knows what his minions know, in life or in death. And sylvari are immune because Pale Tree protection. But I don't think Mordremoth could do that, he just wants bodies doing his bidding, and if they don't have a mind, so much the better for him. And I heard, from spoilers I got when reading precariously close to LS3 and PoF events on the wiki, that Jormag and Kralkatorrik got plant and death powers when they woke. One of them seemed to use it more, so that people think that a dragon being closer to another dragon when it dies will get them more of that power. I don't know much about this aspect of draconical existence, because I try not to give myself spoilers... oooh." Tiffany shudders. "I am  _ssssooo_  glad I never got a HoT spoiler... ya know?"

"Yeeeeah." Fiona nods vigorously. " _That_ 'd be terrible."

"Anyway. So... why were we discussing draconic weaknesses again? We were discussing how to tell Trahearne to use airships."

"We got that covered, how 'bout Mordremoth?"

"Well, they're the  _Elder Dragons._  Don'tcha think they  _wouldn't_  have an easy-kill switch that's the same for  _all_  of them? Naw, it makes no sense. They'd have their own respective weaknesses. We'd talk it over - by the time Zhaitan's dead, we'll be best friends with Trahearne, and we'd discuss it. What his minions are, what they do, etc, and see if we can pinpoint a weakness. ' _A unique, respective weakness,_ ' Taimi said."

"You just love quoting your characters," Fiona rolls her eyes.

"Hey, they're not 'my characters', 'Guild Wars characters' or even 'Anet's characters' anymore, Fi. They're people. They have character. ... Pun intended. Kinda. Whatever."

"Whatever," Fiona agrees. "It's just a doozy though, this future knowledge thing. What're you gonna do when it runs out?"

"I won't give him specific directions on what to do with his troops, you know. I'll be proposing weaknesses the dragon might have. You know we don't know nearly enough about the other dragons for me to have any idea what their weakness could be - we know so little about Primordus, especially - leaving out DSD, of course - "

"DSD?"

"Deep Sea Dragon. We know so little about Primordus, just he's a fire dragon and drove the asura and the skritt to the surface, and the dwarves turned to stone and fought it's minions."

"There's dwarves?"

"I know. They turned themselves into stone, but they're still alive, and they fight Primordus's minions to this day. I  _think_  you meet one of them if you choose the Priory... maybe? I don't know. Just a whisper of a rumor, you know. A single mention, somewhere... you know."

"Yeah..."

"Anyway, why are we discussing this again?"

Fiona shrugs. "I don't know."

"So, future knowledge, huh."

"Make more friends?" Fiona suggests.

"And have 'em die?" Tiffany snorts. "No way. Forgal died, Tonn died, Zott died, Logan  _almost_  died - "

"What the - what are you talking about? When does  _Logan_  almost die?"

"Whoopsie, I called him Logan  _again_. We can't do that... anyway, we were in the middle of Zhaitan's territory, trying to build an airship out of scrap junk or somthing. We got all the pieces together, and then  _thud. Thud. Thud._  Risen giants incoming! Get into the air! Ooh no, one of the ropes won't come out the ground, someone needs to stay behind to get it! Yikes! So Logan goes up and says - 'Hey guys, I left you behind for Kralkatorrik, now it's time for you to leave me behind. I'll get that rope.' and we're all like 'No! We just made friends with you again after five years of separation!' and he's like 'Seriously guys, this needs to be done.' So he does it, and then later as the junky airship is failing, along comes another one with Logan on it! Yipppeee! How the heck did he survive? You  _see him_  in the middle of a circle of ten giants being bashed on. How does he get away from that?!"

"Youch," Fiona says again. "Well, won't happen this time."

"Yeah, because we won't get the bright idea to scavenge an airship in the middle of Zhaitan's territory... where'd the crashed airship we were fixing come from, anyway...?"

"I don't know!" Fiona says, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Whoa, lookit that. We cleared out the centaurs around here," Tiffany says suddenly. "No centaurs around  _this_  garrison, thank ya  _very_  much!" she shouts, turning southward. "Hopefully the Seraph can get the garrison sealed. Helps the war effort, you know. Their trouble was they couldn't get the area cleared enough to keep it clear. Post patrols and things. I think they won't have much more centaur trouble here."

"Are we done relaxing and killing centaurs mindlessly?"

"Mindlessly, right. You must have got extra meditation in this morning, somehow. Talking and dealing with centaurs?"

"I just need to throw my energy balls and greatswords. Honestly, these are easy. It's centaurs."

"Maybe the Seraph need a mesmer on their side," Tiffany mumbles.

"They've got Captain Thackeray, he's a guardian," Fiona points out.

"Yeah, besides him! Like, offensive stuff. Not that being a guardian is bad or anything, but the Seraph need, like, an elementalist or a mesmer or - hey, a Seraph necromancer would be cool!"

"How about a shaman?"

"There's no shamans in Guild Wars, your thinking of EverQu - "

"Ugh. A shaman summoned that earth elemental. How come the bad guys get shamans and we don't?"

"So you  _do_  pay attention!"

"It's on his nameplate, Tiff. 'Modniir shaman'. "

"It's a Modniir sage or somthing, they call it a shaman later on."

"I notice the dialog more than the nameplates, and if the dialog says its a shaman then it's a shaman."

"Why can't they be the same thing?" Tiffany says exasperatedly.

"There's no sages, either, and you can't be a sage. No good guy sages, either! Yay good guys!"

"There's the Exalted."

"Huh?"

"There's three... I dunno, sections? Divisions? Of the Exalted. There's Burnishers, Sages, and... one other, I forget. The Sages guard the pylons, and they kinda shoot light out of their arms or something."

"That's neat," Fiona says absentmindedly. "But they don't count. They're off in Auric Basin, guarding Tarir, and there's no Seraph sages."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Don't have to be so picky," Fiona mumbles.

"We're done here... wanna go check on the bandithaunt caverns? Make sure they're not trying to rebuild?"

"Sure."

"Walk or waypoint?"

"Mmm... waypoint."

"Hey, wait!" Tiffany says. "There's more than one entrance to the bandithaunt caverns!"

"Is there?"

"Yeah, remember the secret tunnel under the old farmhouse? East of Cassie's ranch?"

"Ooh, yeah..."

"Let's go there, and clean out those bandits. They prolly... urgh. We'll need to clean the whole thing out again..."

"Well, lets go! There can't be that many of them, yet."

"Closest waypoint is the one by Diah's farm, the first heart."

"C'mon."

"Oh, geez, we're using game terminology again," Tiffany mumbles as she waypoints.

* * *

Logan breaths deeply of the clear air outside the city. Not to say that the air in the city isn't clear - it is just different. The cold, stiff breeze that blows up from the south to Shaemoor garrison is refreshing, and clears Logan's mind for thought.

Logan had been called up to investigate the disappearance of the centaurs from the area, and to help with securing the garrison.

"Two girls passed through here earlier today, Captain. Barthol, on the walls up there, should know more, he was stationed up there to watch for more centaurs."

"Thank you, soldier." Logan says, passing onto the wall of the garrison.

"Sir, two girls passed through here, using the waypoint. They proceeded to systematically take down all the centaurs in the area, almost absentmindedly. There generally seemed to be a few more of them, especially when they took on more than one centaur."

"Did you get a good look at them?"

"Yes, sir. One was a girl with a bow and bear by her side, the other carried a staff in her hand. They seemed to be talking to each other. One girl screeched at one point, I heard the name Tiffany. And - "

"I didn't... I don't..." Logan sighs. "I don't need to know what they were talking about, I need a report on the situation. I was called down here for information on why the centaurs are apparently gone."

"The girls cleaned them out of the area, sir. Some centaurs fled, but the fact remains that they're gone for now, and we need to secure the garrison before they come back."

"Of course. If we can get the garrison secured before the centaurs return, this will be a great victory for the area, and we can advance the war front." Logan agrees. "I want scouts sent out to ascertain how far the centaurs have fled, and where their nearest base is."

"Understood, sir." the guard said, saluting and running off.

* * *

Later, back at his office, Logan is thinking. The Tassof girls - he is sure the ones who cleared out the centaurs are those girls - were really good at combat, as their older sister had been as a part of the Screaming Falcons. Logan recalls the words that the ranger - Tiffany - had said before leaving the detainment cells in his office, after defeating Serentine. He realizes that, with his determination to avoid thinking much about Destiny's Edge - at least, until recently - he would never have come to the conclusions he did without that superficial nudge from an outside source.

His mind returns to a question he had been pondering - were Tiffany's words intentional, or just - in her mind - an elegant farewell?

No one knew why Destiny's Edge split up, only that none of them were on speaking terms with another, and no one knew why. Logan is glad of that - it's no one's business.

So Logan comes again to the conclusion that it can't have been intentional, those words - if she had known whom she quoting, she would have carefully avoided the slightest mention of Rytlock.

However angry he had been, however, it is nothing to how happy he is that he'd finally figured out the problem. He's actually grateful that Tiffany had happened to say those things otherwise, he'd never have let himself think about it.

' _But nobody will listen. Except perhaps Caithe. And nobody has listened to Caithe for the last five years. Which is what the problem is._ ' Logan thinks with a mental sigh.

Logan is still angry at Rytlock, of course - Rytlock had said some very unforgivable things when Logan had returned to the scene of the battle. But now that Logan knows  _why_ , he's not nearly as angry as he was, just... upset? ' _Upset is the right word. I won't blow up at him or anything, the way I did last time I saw him. Blowing up is never proper communication. Oh look, I've turned into Caithe._ ' Logan thinks dryly. ' _Well, I should go update Jennah on the war effort... securing Shaemoor garrison is a big win, at least for the area. Centaurs were getting entirely too close to Divinity's Reach.'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, howya like it? Thanks again for reviews!
> 
> And again, I'm so sorry this took so long...
> 
> I hope this wasn't too confusing... eeh. Perhaps it was. Sorry if it is.
> 
> *waves hand through the air* You want to post a review.
> 
> You're right, we do! *posts review* wait, why did I want to do that again? Ehh, who cares.
> 
> (you need to post a review if you know what actually happened there, or I'll think nobody knows)


	12. Destiny's Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fifteen years later, Tiffany and Fiona have some fun with their friends - all alive, all healthy, all as it should be - before suddenly being transported home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all, guys! Yes this chapter was so fun to write, and I hope I kept it all in character. (I serisouly doubt I did, though.)
> 
> My brother keeps mispronouncing 'Ayla', so here's a pronunciation guide: 'Aay-la' (not 'eye-la')
> 
> _**Okay, here's the story now:** _

 

"Tiffany! Fiona!" Ayla shouts. "I perfected my Whatever!"

"Your what, now?" Fiona asks, poking her head in the door with a puzzled expression on her face.

"My Whatever!"

"Tiffffffany! Ayla made something she calls a 'Whatever!' Any ideas on what it could be?"

"A... Whatever?"

Passing by, and not hearing much except 'whatever,' 'whatever,' 'whatever,' Petra's eyes widen and she dashes downstairs to find Andrew.

"Dad! They're doing whatever again!"

"They  _what_? That 'everybody gets whatever'd' was my best idea to make them stop! But they still went to all those cities and did it anyway, just like they said they would..."

"Even the part about the dragons..." Petra sighs in despair, remembering the adventures her adopted children had been going on.

"Yeah, that was embarrassing. Especially that last one - 'Primordus, you hatchling, I'm not gonna kill you, I'm gonna curse you!  _Whatever_!' At least they  _did_  kill him..."

"Honoring Deborah's memory, yep. Though why they chose  _that_  to remember her with,  _I_  don't know..." Petra sighs, remembering Deborah's death at the hands of Kralkatorrik.

* * *

 

Back in the workroom, Ayla is still trying to make Tiffany and Fiona understand.

"It's a Whatever." she says exasperatedly. She gets blank looks. " _You're_  both whatevers," she says flatly.

"OH!" Tiffany says, a lightbulb goes off in her head. "The curse!"

"You named an invention Whatever?" Fiona demands. "Deborah would have loved that," she sighs.

"That's why I named it that. We'll call it a Whatever, but to everyone else it'll be known as the Blaster."

"What's it do?"

"It shoots red bolts of energy at people. It burns. See?" she fires the invention at the wall, and a thin, red line of light about a foot long shoots from the tip of the invention, and a charred, burnt indent appears in the wall, smoking. "It's more powerful than I thought it'd be," Ayla says, peering down the barrel of what looks like a small handgun.

"Ayla, careful. Don't want to shoot yourself," Tiffany cautions.

" **Tiffany, that's a Star Wars blaster,** " Fiona mutters to Tiffany.

" **Star... that's cool**." Tiffany mumbles back.

"So, it shoots ley-line energy?" Fiona asks. "What would it do to a person?"

"Well, if you could  _hold_  the bolt of energy, you could probably slice someone's arm off with it. And it would cauterize the wound."

" **Lightsaber,** " Tiffany whispers. " **She's...** "

" **I know, now be quiet,** " Fiona growls under her breath.

"Want to go and thaw out the Shiverpeaks?" Tiffany jokes.

"Oh, you'd need a bazillion of these to thaw them. They're cold."

"If there were any Elder Dragons left, it'd probably kill them," Fiona offers.

"But there aren't," Tiffany points out.

"Yeah, well, we could find Trahearne, and get him to resurrect Kralkatorrik, and we could kill him over again, for vengeance." Fiona says, her expression darkening.

"Kralk's been dead for like seven years, even Trahearne couldn't raise  _him_." Tiffany rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, and certainly not anyone  _else_  we might know who happened to die in that time frame..." Fiona grumbles.

"Kralkatorrik likes taking friends with him. First it was Snaff, back in 1320, and then, in 1334... well..."

The girls were quiet for a moment.

"Look what I learned!" Mat cries, running in. He is covered in flames. "I finally built up my immunity to fire!"

"That's cool, Mat! What about the area around you?"

"I just maintain a puddle of water under my feet. It's easy. Or I fly."

"Are you immune to drowning yet?" Fiona asks dryly. "What? If he can be immune to fire, he can be immune to water, too."

"And, following that logic, he has to be ' _immune_ ' to air, as well." Tiffany says flatly.

"Wish I  _was_  immune to Eir," Mat grumbles. "She keeps picking me up and throwing me over her shoulder, before tossing me in an encosed area with Garm and forcing me to defend myself. I tried to fly out with air, but she's got this barrier. So I had to find a way to escape without killing Garm, but I don't have any shields so Garm was all over me and stuff - I can't defend myself from that, not without killing him! And - "

Tiffany and Fiona burst out laughing. Tiffany is rolling on the floor, laughing her head off. Fiona is smirking and grinning.

"Eir, Garm, the barrier, all of it, was all illusions," Ayla tells Mat absentmindedly.

Mat stares at Fiona in openmouthed horror. "You did  _what_?"

"Yep," Fiona says, nodding smugly. "Mmmhmm. And then I went and told the real Eir all about it."

" _WHAT?_ " Mat shrieks. The flames covering his body are replaced by flowing torrents of water, and a jet of water flies out of his outstretched hand, dousing Fiona.

"Watch it, Mat!" Ayla shrieks. "This is my workroom, and you're going to short-circuit  _everything_! At  _least_  use some other element!"

"You'll just recreate it again," Mat says grumpily.

"Not this!" Ayla says angrily, waving her Whatever in his face. "This is the only working prototype I have of the Whatever Blaster!"

"Whatever Blaster?" Mat says in confusion.

Ayla fires the blaster out the window. It burns through the glass and the bolt of energy sails out into the atmosphere, dissipating against the clouds. She fires it at the wall, and another blackened, smoking crater appears.

Mat stumbles back in awe. "You made that?"

"Who else, these idiots?" she asks, gesturing to Tiffany, who is just recoving from her laughing fit.

"It's not like I could ever make something like that," Trahearne says, looking in the doorway. "That blasted those holes?"

"Yep," Ayla beams.

"I think we could have killed dragons with it, if any were still around. It would have saved some people if we'd had this then.

"No need to mention that, everyone knows it," Zojja says grumpily.

"How about we just find that dragon's body and zap it full of holes? Might work," Braham says.

"It could... and we can go blast all the dragons." Tiffany says. "That would be unsettlingly satisfying."

"Yep. Now tell me, what's Rytlock been up to these days? I haven't seen him in a while," Mat asks.

"You  _would_  ask," Ayla says, closely inspecting her blaster with a magnifying lense. "He's like, your role model or something."

"Really, Ayla?" Mat sighs.

"Actually, Rytlock's been dealing with another uprising of ghosts in northern Ascalon recently." Caithe says, unstealthing.

"I thought we  _dealt_  with those?" Fiona says in surprise.

"Apparently you can't kill a ghost. It just keeps coming back," Caithe sighs. "You'd have to put it to rest somehow."

"And no one knows how," Rox interjects. "We've tried so many things, but they do just keep coming back. They don't come back where you killed them, though - it's like they have some underground anchor or something, they sprout up from caverns generally."

"That's not good," Tiffany says, frowning.

"Of course it's not good," Canach says. "Nothing about ghosts is ever  _good_."

"Not necessarily  _bad_ , though," Marjory says. "If killing them worked, they'd just dissolve, most likely. Their spirits would no longer roam the living world, but they'd still be restless and never get to... wherever resting spirits go."

"Well  _that's_  not good," Kasmeer says. "Think an illusion of, like, no charr left in Ascalon would do it?"

"If the illusion was lifted too soon, it'd probably fail," Fiona says. "And none of us are powerful enough for that."

"Yeah. Too bad they never talk or give you a chance to talk to them." Mat sighs. "Oh!" he says, brightening up. "I got my fire immunity completed! Check it!" he engulfs his body in flames, rising a few inches into the air so as not to light the floor on fire.

"Now see,  _that_  would have been useful against Primordus," Eir says. "I don't suppose it works on other people?"

"Naw," Mat says. "You need to have an affinity to the element before you can begin working up an immunity."

"We wouldn't have been able to curse him if Mat'd been able to do that - or been old enough to help," Tiffany tells them.

"Curse... oh, not this again," Logan says in despair.

* * *

"So, Tiff. Ever think about home much?" Fiona asks.

"Oh, all the time. It's been a while since anyone visited."

"Well, we're here now," says Phillipe, him and the rest of the family materializing in the hallway.

"Yes!" Tiffany says happily. "It's been so long!"

"Got any better at drawing maps?" Falcon asks.

"Oh, yes. I can draw Rata Novus -  _Rata Novus_  - with just a vocal description."

"That is improvement! You ready, then?"

"Oh, yeah. Certainly." Tiffany nods enthusiastically. "It'll be so cool to have a map of Earth, I don't remember my geography any - "

"Well it's been fifteen years, no one blames you," Joslyn inserts.

"Yeah, it's still kind of weird to think it's 1340. I mean really! We came here in, what was it, about 1325?"

"Yeah, that's right," Fiona nods. "Remember, the personal story of... it was something wars, wasn't it?"

"Guild Wars 2," Falcon rolls his eyes. "Honestly, you're so forgetful sometimes."

"Only of things that don't matter. Remember, before we came here, I was all moany about how Trahearne had died?"

"Oh, yeah. That was when we fought... Mordremoth, right?"

"Yeah, the plant monster. The mind monster. Whatever you want to call it monster." Tiffany says, flapping her hand.

"Mat's flames would've been useful."

"Mat was like, nine." Tiffany says flatly. "Just because he's almost twenty now - wait,  _Mat_  is almost  _twenty_?"

The two girls stare at each other.

"That means Nate is almost twenty."

"We told you that," Harrison says in confusion.

"Yeah, but it didn't sink in. It's like back when I was twelve, and I was like 'wait wait wait wait - I'm gonna be  _thirteen_ in a few months? Whaaat? I know it's happening, but it's just so unbelievable!"

"I know. Well, let's get that map drawn! What's the scale?"

"We're just doing the places we knew. You remember them best. The scale... well, you tell me what the scale should be for this size paper," Tiffany tells Phillipe, pulling out a gigantic sheet of paper.

"Okay. First, you need to draw the border of LA about..."

"That was tiring," Tiffany says, wiping her forehead. The map she'd drawn painstakingly over the last couple hours hangs on the wall, completed. It shows her home neighborhood in extreme care and detail, with notes saying what was new since she'd last seen it. "You're good at descrbing maps, Dad."

"I had to practice for forever," Phillipe says dramatically.

"Dad. You don't say forever."

"No, it was don't say always. Remember, we'd say 'he's  _always_  doing X,' and Dad would say 'no, he's  _not_  always doing X, only sometimes. You're not even always breathing. Or alive.'"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Am I late?" Tangwen asks, logging on.

"By several hours," Fiona tells her. "If you wanted to watch the painstakingly boring process of mapmaking, which, I assure you, you don't really care about. But if you wanted to talk to us  _after_  the map was done, then you're right on time."

"Great. So, what's been invented recently by the A-girl?"

"She made a Star Wars blaster." Tiffany tells her.

"That is so cool, I need to see that," Tangwen declares. "From the originals?"

"Yep." Tiffany tells her, before getting a confused look. "But they had the same type of - you mean they got a new type of blaster for the really new ones?"

"Sadly," Tangwen tells them. "I liked the old blasters."

" _Ayla!_ " Fiona yells. "Come show Tangwen your Whatever Blaster!"

"She calls it a Whatever Blaster?" Tangwen says, raising an eyebrow.

"Yepp..." Tiffany says happily. "Fi, cover the map with an illusion, I don't want Ayla asking about it."

The wall ripples and the map disappears as Alya comes in.

She aims at the wall (not the one with the map) and fires. The smoking crater left behind leaves the Tassof family in shock.

"That is one powerful blaster," Tangwen says in surprise, darting a wide-eyed look at Tiffany and Fiona. "How do you fix the holes?"

"Ya don't," Ayla says flippantly. "It's ley-line energy, you'd have to replace the beam or somthing."

"Wow."

"And Mat got his fire immunity working," Tiffany says, snapping her fingers. "I knew there was something I'd forgotten. Go get him, Ayla?"

"I don't have to," Ayla says, reaching into a pocket. "Mat, Tiffany requests you in her room," she says into the little, black box she holds in her hand. Her voice echoes all over the house, causing the Tassofs to wince.

Tiffany looks at the box in awe. "You made a voice-transmitter that works in multiple places at once! Like a group radio!"

"Yep," Ayla says, bouncing the box in her hand, like Fiona so frequently does with her energy orbs.

Mat comes in, rubbing his ear. "You didn't have to put one of those in my meditation corner, Ayla," he snarls.

"Ouch," Fiona winces.

"It's a crisp now, anyway," Mat says cheerfully. "So, what'd you want me for?"

"These people want to see your fire immunity."

Mat grins and lifts off the ground a few inches, before bursting into flame. "Look what else I can do," he says. Multiple orbs of water appear in ever more complex rings around him, and his hands are encased in earth. "All the elements at once!" he says, gritting his teeth.

A laser blast rips through one of Mat's water orbs, but gets absorbed into the water. Mat blinks. "Hey, it gave me it's energy!"

"Water is very energy-conductive," Phillipe says, nodding.

An illusion of a power line drooping through a puddle of water, and sparking with electricity, appears on one wall.

Ayla kept shooting Mat's water orbs.

"You know, if we ever get in a serious fight, I'll just maintain a water orb for Ayla to feed ley-line energy into, and I won't tire out," Mat tells them.

"Good idea," Tiffany nods. "Especially if the enemy does this," she shoots a special arrow into the water orb and disappears. "Gotcha," she sings out, putting Mat in a chokehold briefly, before releasing him.

"Right, well I have to go," Tangwen tells them. "See you later, guys!" she waypoints to Shaemoor and logs out.

"Same here," Phillipe says. "We have places to be."

"Seeya!" Tiffany says as they all waypoint.

"Well, I've got to improve my communication system," Ayla says, picking up her blaster and leaving the room.

Mat's elements disappear and he lands lightly on the floor. "Feeling surprisingly refreshed, for all that. Good energy, those ley-lines have." he says, nodding. "I'm gonna go meditate."

After Mat leaves the room, Fiona's illusion on the map fades, and she and Tiffany spend the rest of the afternoon remembering different events that had occurred in their neighborhood.

"Remember when we'd go on walks with Granny?" Fiona asks, tracing the street their house is situated on.

"I kinda do... Yeah, I suppose I do!" Tiffany says, brightening up. "I remember the first time I brought my bike along, and there were a couple extra rules 'cause I was the only one with a bike."

"Yeah, you  _always_  'suppose' things. Ha! You even 'supposed' that Mordremoth could knock the Pact's airships out of the air," Fiona says dryly.

"Really?"

"No, not really. You made entirely certain that certain things wouldn't happen, and saying 'I suppose' wouldn't do that," Fiona says rolling her eyes.

"What the - " Tiffany stops, staring at the map. It's glowing. "No  _way_. Fiona, it - it -  _it!_ " her voice gets higher and higher. "Fiona!"

"Tiffany, wha - " Fiona turns to look at the map. Her mouth drops open. "Tiff... you suppose...?"

"No, I do  _not_  suppose!" Tiffany says, barely above a whisper.

"What'll Destiny's Edge think?" Fiona asks. Destiny's Edge had expanded to almost everybody, even Mat and Ayla.

"I don't know. But... it... Fi, it won't matter!" Tiffany says, her voice rising. "We won't be here, and it's only real for us! And them! What'll - will all our time just be erased?"

"I hope not!" Fiona replies, her voice rising in panic. "Will we be able to get back?"

"I hope so. Like world-hopping," Tiffany says. "At least we'll be able to see the family in person..." she shields her eyes. "If I had to choose... I don't know!" she says. "But the choice isn't ours, anymore."

Both girls face directly into almost-too-strong light coming from the map of home. The colors around them swirl, and they are once again in the room of nothingness where they had made the ranger and mesmer that had been them for the last fifteen years. The only thing that is missing is the character creation control panel. They are in darkness, with the only light being a pale, directionless light that emits from the floor in a small radius around the two girls.

Tiffany glances at her side, startled at the absence of Beorn and their mental link. The familiar weight on her back of her bow is missing, and her knives no longer weigh her sleeves down.

Fiona puts both hands to her head in startled realization that the familiar presence of her illusions - that slept in her head while she wasn't using them - is gone. Her staff has vanished from its place on her back, and some of her minor, constant illusions vanish.

"Beorn!" Tiffany hollers anxiously. The mental link is gone. The empathic bond through which they shared feelings is gone - purely gone. Completely. Her mind feels so... lonely now. "Beorn!"

Fiona desperately tries to conjure an image of herself. It doesn't work. The familar weight of a small, silver ring that fuels her energy and regenerates her wounds is gone. So are several of her other signets that she had grown used to over the years.

"We heal as one," Tiffany whimpers, hoping to fix something - her broken mental connection, Beorn's absence - it had healed before, it had created their bond in the first place. But nothing happens. Beorn doesn't pull on the connection and heal them both.

The place where, previously, the character creation menu had been the last time this had happened, now contains another map - this one of Tyria, and backwards. Kryta is on the right-hand side, with Ascalon and the Brand on the right.

For the first few minutes, it seems far away from them, but now it is growing in size. At the last moment, Tiffany realizes they are rushing through nothingness towards the map.

As the map and the two girls collide, they don't. They go through it, and a swirl of colors implode on the girls vision. The map - or them, whoever it was that was moving - has stopped, and it is no longer backwards, because they are on the right side of it.

Fiona gasps for breath as if she had just been underwater for a touch longer than felt comfortable. She blinks and looks around. It's the living room at home, only slightly different from the last time they had seen it.

"They're gone," Tiffany whimpers, referring to her pets. She hasn't seen the room.

"Tiff, we're  _home_." Fiona whispers in awe.

"We're - " Tiffany looks up. "We are." she breathes. "We're home. Fiona..."

"We're home," Fiona repeats, it just starting to sink in. "We're home!" she shouts.

Both girls grab each other's hands and dance around the room. "We're home, home, home!" they shout in glee.

Tiffany hears a thump down the hallway, and reflexively spins into a defensive position, before remembering she's home.

Doors slam open all down the hall, and it seems like a stampede. Six people stop by the hallway, staring.

" _MOM!"_  Falcon shrieks, tearing outside to look for her. " _MOM! TIFFANY AND FIONA ARE HOME!"_

Joslyn comes barreling inside. "You're home!" she says joyfully.

"How did it happen?" Phillipe says from his chair by the desk.

"The map we drew," Tiffany said happily. "It activated."

"Maps = universe travel, then, I suppose," Laura says.

Tiffany spins around. "Laura! You're... all grown up!"

"Yes, I am." Laura says. "I have been visiting you like everyone else, you know."

"It's different, seeing you in real life, you know," Fiona says flatly.

"How can I have missed my little Lori growing up!" Tiffany says in despair. "She was essentially my little baby before I left."

Tangwen, having heard Falcon's screech for Joslyn outside, zips in through the door.

"Tiffany! Fiona! You're back!" she cries, stopping short.

"Yes, we are! It's so... different. Please tell me you got the burn pile done, Dad?" she says.

"Well of course! I wouldn't leave that gigantic pile of wood there in our front yard for fifteen years!"

"I know, just making sure," Tiffany warns.

"That's what you're making sure of?" Tangwen asks incredulously.

"Well, I know it's going to look weird, I was just preparing myself. And are you  _absolutely sure you didn't mess with my BitCoin, Dad?_ "

"Of course not," Phillipe says. "I would never. It's 2033, BTC has so boomed. It's worth millions."

"Millions, wow. And - wait, it's 2033? That's just weird. I'm used to it being the thirteen-hundreds, it's like we jumped forward seven hundred years."

"Techonology-wise, we have," Fiona tells her."Computers and cellphones and stuff."

"Computers and... oh. We haven't used those in ages, tech has advanced quite a bit."

Oh, that is so cool, and - whoa!" Tiffany jumps out of her skin. "It's a  _baby!_  You had another one!" Tiffany says happily, scooping up the little girl. "What's her name, Dad?"

"Haven." Joslyn says.

"Aww, it's a widdle widdle girl-lay-lel!" Tiffany says, tickling the baby. "It's widdle widdle girlie! Oh my Haven!"

"That doesn't sound nearly as good as 'Oh my Lori!'" Fiona tells her.

"Yeah, that's because it doesn't rhyme," Tiffany tells her. "Still a cutie cutie  _baby_ , a cutie cutie  _baby_ ,"

"I thought you said you weren't having anymore?"

"Well, we debated for thirteen years, but then we decided we needed some little ones. Because God wanted us to have more," Joslyn tells her. "So we had more."

"Well, that's good. Will you have any more?"

"Probably. We've got a good eight children now to help take care of them."

Tiffany beams at her mother. "Of course."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, a big surprise... but hey! The story continues in the next chapter. Do not disappoint me by leaving no reviews on this one, and don't disappoint me even further by not reading the next chapter. Got it?


	13. The White Mantle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tassof sisters assist the Shining Blade and the Seraph in uprooting several White Mantle hideouts, in the process of trying to find their parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmph. This may seem rushed... but I believe that next up is the level twenty quest. Because it could happen any time, given what it is.
> 
> Now, I have not played this quest in... I played it once. Like, five years ago. And I forget most all of it. So me and Fiona will most likely just follow along carefully so as not to foul anything up. Shining Blade dealing with the White Mantle and all that sort of thing. Probably.
> 
> Coincidentally, the family the two girls have on Earth and family they have in Tyria have the same last name. Confusing, huh.
> 
> And the operations might get confused - yes, I know 'The Sting' takes place in Blackroot Cut, and 'Drawing Out the Cult' in Sojourner's Way, but... I mixed it up because I mixed it up and then I realized what happened and I'd already written half of it... oh well.
> 
> _**Okay, here's the story now:** _

 

 

"Tiffany!" Fiona sits up. "Tiffany, we - " Fiona stares around the room a moment. It is her room in Andrew's tavern. Here forhead furrows in confusion. She quickly scrambles over to the desk in the corner. It's 1325.

Her mouth drops. "It was just a  _dream_?" she demands of the air. "Really?" she thinks for a moment. It'd been fifteen years in the future, apparently, and all the dragons had been dead. But so had Deborah. Fiona shivers. "It was just a dream," she tells herself. "It won't actually happen."

Later that morning, Tiffany and Fiona are chatting over the breakfast table, when a pigeon lands on the table. A small tube is attached to it's leg, enclosing a message.

Tiffany carefully unties the small capsule from the leg of the carrier pigeon. The bird cocks it's head at Tiffany.

Tiffany looks at the bird for a moment, before glancing at Fiona by her side. " **This reminds me of Harry Potter**. **I think it's waiting for a reply,** " she mumbles to Fiona.

" **Read it,** " Fiona encourages.

Tiffany undoes the tiny clasp holding the capsule shut, and a message slides out.

_You Are Not Alone_

_My friend,_   
_Congratulations on your recent accolades as the "Hero of Shaemoor." I'm a researcher for the Queen's archives, and I have recently uncovered some information regarding your parents. I thought you might want to see it. I would prefer to discuss the details in person, so if you will meet me at the palace gardens at Divinity's Reach, I'll share them with you._   
_To prove I am what I say, I have enclosed half of an amulet, which I believe will match a broken one you've owned since you were born—something my research led me to uncover. I look forward to meeting you face-to-face._

_Sincerely,_   
_A Friend_

Tiffany looks at the message for a moment, her mind racing. There hadn't been a 'greatest regret' question when she'd created this character... so she and Fiona did both - they'd rescued Deborah, and now they were going to find out that their parents were dead. This was where she and Fiona would meet up with the Shining Blade and learn about the White Mantle.

Tiffany glances at the bird still sitting on the table, her eyes narrowed.

"I'll read it aloud," Tiffany says, reading it again. She finishes with "...sincerely, a friend."

As soon as she finishes, the paper bursts into flames. Tiffany drops it in shock, the bird on the table hopping backwards. When the paper had been burned to ash, all that remains is an intricately worked amulet that looks to made of silver.

Tiffany carefully picks it up, expecting it to be cold and heavy. Instead, it is rather light, but the coldness of the silver seems to be... off. Unnatural.

"Fiona... the other half of the amulet," Tiffany whispers in awe, a Tyrian memory popping into her head. "It should be in - "

"I know," Fiona replies, leaving the table. When she returns, an identical half an amulet in her hand. This half has a thin, strong silver chain threaded through the hole at the top. She carefully hands it to Tiffany, who tries to fit the two pieces together.

They fit like a puzzle piece, and the crack that had separated the two halves seems to seal up. The metal warms slightly in Tiffany's hand, and the amulet vibrates ever so faintly with contained magical energy. The unnatural feeling Tiffany had been getting vanishes, replaced with a warm feeling of... completion. Of being whole once again, and how  _right_ that is.

The hole in the middle of the amulet - there by design, not because of the ancient amulet - glows faintly, and a small gem materializes, filling the hole perfectly. A design is etched onto the gem, which glows a faint golden hue.

The Tassof family is staring at the amulet in Tiffany's hand, silver chain dangling between her fingers.

"It... it's warm," Tiffany whispers. "Feel it."

She holds out the amulet, and each member of the family holds it in turn, gasping in awe at the tangible power the amulet holds.

"It's not... items that contain magical power don't vibrate like that," Deborah tells them in a hushed tone. "It must be full of very powerful magic."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it did," Tiffany says softly. "It just...feels that way."

"So... we going to the palace gardens?" Deborah asks.

"Of course. I'm surprised this letter was addressed to me, I suppose this friend didn't believe you to still be alive. I believe this bird is waiting for a reply to carry. Confirmation, no doubt." Tiffany replies. She leaves the room.

"Deborah, can you come here a moment?" she calls. Deborah shrugs and follows her sister.

When they return, Deborah carries a thin piece of paper with a message written on it.

_Reply: You Are Not Alone_

_A friend,_   
_Your letter has been received with joy and happiness in the family. We did not expect our parents to still be alive after all this time, with no contact. I will be at the palace gardens in the hope to meet my parents and bring them home to meet my sisters. That will be a joyous reunion._

_With joy,_   
_Deborah Tassof._

Deborah carefully rolls up the paper and slides into the tiny capsule, before reattaching it to the pigeon's leg.

The bird flies off.

Tiffany visibly relaxes.

"What was that all about?" Fiona asks.

"I'm suspicious of that bird," Tiffany says. "The band that attaches the capsule to the pigeon's leg was unnecessarily thick, and I think a recording device is contained in it."

"Why on earth would you think that?" Petra asks.

"The capsule had a strange insignia stamped on it. You know how me and Fiona are about Krytan history. I recognized the symbol on the band, but couldn't remember where I last saw it. But once I thought about it, I realized it is the symbol of the White Mantle. It didn't have any coloring, the way the emblem in the history book does, but that's probably to avoid drawing attention."

"The White Mantle? But they're just a children's tale!" Deborah exclaims. "And if they did exist, they're long gone!"

"Oh, no they are not," Tiffany says solemnly. "They do exist today. I'd thought they were just a terrified band of cultists, pretending to not be a part but still doing whatever White Mantle people do, but this? This symbol I saw tells me otherwise. The gem on this amulet bears a mark of the throne's favor. I don't know much about that, but I do know the White Mantle are very anti-throne people, and want to take over Kryta again. I wouldn't be surprised if this meeting in the palace gardens is an ambush."

"You're acting creepy," Petra says flatly. "And way too paranoid."

"You heard us when we were learning about the White Mantle in the first place, Petra. Their sign on this message says a lot. The letter I sent back is worded specifically to make them think that Deborah will be going in alone - and to all appearances, she will be. Me and Fiona will accompany her while stealthed, to help deal with any attackers. And if there are no attackers, then our caution will have been unwarranted and unnecessary."

"What about Beorn?" Fiona asks.

"Oh. He can pretend to be Deborah's pet, I suppose."

"No, if these people really know that much about you, they'll know you have a pet bear, and suspect something. He should stealth, too."

"Okay, that makes sense," Tiffany nods. "You  _can_  stealth us both for the amount of time needed?"

"Sure."

When Deborah arrives at the palace gardens, she tries to appear at ease, but Tiffany and Fiona, stealthed and following her closely, see her right hand occasionally twitch towards the blade at her side.

Tiffany glances around the peaceful gardens, looking for the person she knows to be of the White Mantle.

Deborah seems to have been called over by someone, as she changes direction and heads off to the left and out of sight. Tiffany and Fiona quickly follow her.

"Are you the one who sent me the amulet?" Deborah asks guardedly.

"I am, Hero of Shaemoor," a short man with black hair tells her. "I thought you might be interested. But, aren't there more of you?"

"Yes, they are at home, helping out at the inn. They weren't as concerned as I am about our parents. They don't remember our parents, you see, and I do." Deborah's hand is trembling in an effort to keep it still.

The little man's expression seems to sour, but he quickly adopts a charming expression again. "Well, that's quite fine. I'm here to reunite you with your parents."

Tiffany notices the tenseness leave Deborah as she asks eagerly after them. ' _That's bad,_ ' she thinks. ' _She can't be caught off guard here._ '

"I came a long way to find you, you know. I have some news that may be rather... disconcerting. Your parents are dead."

Deborah instantly draws her blade. "Reuniting me with them must mean killing me," she says, deftly parrying a swift blow from her opponent's own sword. "And, I must warn you - I'm not the Hero of Shaemoor. I'm a survivor of the Screaming Falcons. You've heard of them, I trust? And their supposed demise?"

The informant's face pales quickly, and he tries to dodge backwards from Deborah's blade, which now seems a whole lot more deadly now that he knows who wields it.

"How skilled do you suppose I am, to have survived such an ambush?" Deborah says, moving like the wind around her target. Her words are greatly discouraging to the informant, and he tries to get away.

Tiffany and Fiona unstealth and engage the other assassins, so that Deborah can focus on the informant.

"Hold fast, the Shining Blade is here!" shouts a man dressed in the blue and gold of the Shining Blade. He is accompanied by a woman, dressed the same way.

Together, the five decimate the assassins.

Afterwards, the three girls approach the pair of Shining Blade.

"Excellent work handling those foul cultists, citizens. May they know Grenth's justice. I'm Exemplar Salia of the Shining Blade. This is Exemplar Mehid," the woman introduces.

"I am Deborah Tassof, and these are my sisters, Tiffany and Fiona." Deborah replies. "You say those were cultists?"

"White Mantle, to be exact."

"I  _knew_  it!" Tiffany cries.

"How, particularly?" Salia asks.

"We came here because of a mysterious letter." Fiona reports. "It burnt itself - self-destruct - after I had read aloud the last sentence. But the bird they used to deliver the letter had their symbol on the capsule the missive came in. It also contained part of a family amulet that had been missing for ages."

"How do you know the symbol of the White Mantle?"

"Me and my sister love studying Krytan history, and there are some very old books in our basement that Petra and Andrew tell us were given to them when they adopted us. I suppose they are family heirlooms of some sort, just like the amulet that was sent to us. When we put them together, they merged seamlessly and seemed to vibrate with power, and the gem on the amulet has the mark of the throne's favor." Tiffany tells them. "That explains why they came after us, but how did they come across this amulet? How did they know that we were our parent's children, given as we have been adopted and taken on a different name?"

"That's one thing we cannot know," Mehid tells them. "May I see the amulet?"

Tiffany takes the amulet out carefully and hands it to the exemplar. He studies it carefully. "I would say this was given by Queen Jennah's father, given the age."

"How can you tell the age? The silver is untarnished, as far as I can tell, and I don't even know if it is silver."

"It's not. This is a rare material called Mylfanthril, which is silvery in appearance, but which doesn't tarnish and is extremely hard to break. This amulet is made of pure Mylfanthril, and I would not be surprised if it was a very, very ancient family heirloom," Mehid tells them, handing the amulet back to Fiona. "I determined not the age of the amulet, but the person who inscribed that rune on the amulet. Each king or queen for hundreds of years alters the original rune in their own way, so you can tell which monarch inscribed the rune. Like a personal mark. Jennah's father curled this line here, see? The original doesn't have that, and Jennah removes this line completely. It's a miracle the original is still known today."

"If this amulet is as historically valuable as we think, why did these White Mantle have the piece?"

"We don't know, but we're about to raid one of their hideouts we found recently. It's a hunting lodge near Beetletun. It'll be dangerous, but the cultists might know more."

"We'll be there, Exemplar," Fiona tells them.

"And we won't take no for an answer," Tiffany backs her up.

"Anise will have my head for this, but fine." Salia tells them.

Mehid is frowning. "The White Mantle are usually more covert about their assassination attempts. You must be a high-value target - not surprising. You have the mark of the king's favor, and a Mylfanthril amulet, signaling very noble heritage."

"Why now?" Deborah asks. "Why not when we were little?"

"If your body were found here, it would send a message to the people of Kryta: Queen Jennah can't protect her friends, even if she keeps them close. They wanted to bring fear. And now, just when the bandits have been devastating Shaemoor and even within the walls of Divinity's Reach, and the centaurs almost knocking down the front gate?"

"I'm starting to dislike these people more and more," Fiona grimaces.

"Look at this way - if the White Mantle is your enemy, then the Shining Blade is your friend."

"Who  _are_  the White Mantle?" Deborah asks. "I haven't studied Krytan history as much as my sisters."

"The White Mantle once gripped Kryta with an iron fist. They lied to the populace to keep them subservient, and nearly eradicated the royal line. Their followers did... terrible things."

"Do you think the cult could regain such power?" Deborah asks, concerned.

"If so, I'm glad to fight them. Kryta should be free - at the very least, free of internal turmoil while the war with the centaurs rages." Fiona says.

"And Zhaitan is populating the Tarnished Coast with Risen." Tiffany agrees.

"You'd do good as members of the Shining Blade," Mehid tells them.

"Don't worry about this mess. We'll see that it's handled discreetly. See you at the hunting lodge."

As the two exemplars leave, Tiffany raises an eyebrow at Fiona.

"Looks like our cautioun was warranted, then." Tiffany says lightly. "I doubt we'd have made it far without the preparation."

"It's nearly noon. We should head back to the tavern for lunch, and then perhaps go to that hunting lodge."

"Sure. Let's go."

The trio waypoint.

Later, as the twins are in their room preparing to go to the hunting lodge, Tiffany shakes her head.

"I... that was a  _very_  strange turn of events!" Tiffany tells Fiona. "Never before have the Shining Blade made any mention of us being good in their organization. Other times representatives say that, they very soon follow it up with an invitation, as in the case of the Orders of Tyira."

"And we'll be working with them for quite a while," Fiona nods.

"If they do offer, however, we'll have to decline," Tiffany says.

"Why ever - "

"Because that would involve tying ourselves to the Queen and Kryta. Not that that's a  _bad_  thing, mind you, but I want to join the Vigil and fight dragons, not the Shining Blade and defend the Queen from assasination and/or take down the White Mantle. Not that fighting the White Mantle is bad, or that their organization is a minor threat, but the dragons, even more so."

"Ah. I see. Telling Mehid and Salia that might not go down too well, however. I think we're a bit young to be so ambitious."

"Yeah, if we were normal people," Tiffany snorts. "Which... it is what they think we are. How about we say we're simply not ready?"

"All this is specualtion on  _if_  they offer us membership, which they may not. I get the feeling the Shining Blade will be a bit more cautious about who they invite to their ranks than someone who is especially good at fighting the White Mantle."

"Well, lets go."

"It's good to see you, friends. Ready?"

"Quite," Tiffany says lightly. "But first, don't we need inside intel?"

"Unless you're volunteering to be a spy, I don't see how we can," Mehid says dryly.

"I'm not, but nobody will suspect a bird, will they? They use pigeons to carry mail, I wouldn't be surprised if they also used other birds. I have a mental link with Gwaihir, all I have to do is send him in."

"You are really full of cunning, aren't you?" Mehid says, surprised. "Well, go ahead."

Gwaihir alights on Tiffany's arm for a moment, before flying off. Tiffany closes her eyes, facing the direction in which Gwaihir had flown off.

"Their leader is in the basement," she says suddenly, her eyes springing open.

"Their  _leader_?" Mehid asks in astonishment.

"Not the  _leader_  leader, but... the guy who's in charge of this hideout," Tiffany corrects herself. "He's the guy we're looking for, anyway."

"Let's go in, then," Salia says.

"The Blade's onto us! Get 'em!" a fastidously-dressed man shouts, rushing the group. A couple other White Mantle cultists appear, which the group takes out quickly.

"Quickly, into the lodge - none must escape," Salia says breathlessly.

"It's a raid! Stop them!" someone yells from deeper into the lodge as Beorn knocks the door down.

"Split up, and meet by the basement door," Fiona instructs.

The ground floor of the lodge is cleared rather quickly.

"Fiona, you've gotten hurt," TIffany says worriedly. "You still can't heal."

"It's nothing," Fiona says. "I'll be fine."

"Fi... oh, alright," Tiffany says worriedly. "But don't die on me. If you're close to dying waypoint out."

"If I was close to dying I'd be in-combat, and - "

"Fi, it's  _real_. I don't think being 'in-combat' counts anymore."

Fiona's eyes light up. "That's so cool."

"Yeah, so don't die on me." Tiffany warns again.

Then, Salia, Mehid and Deborah arrive at the basement door.

"You sure this is the place?" Salia asks Tiffany.

"Positive." Tiffany confirms.

"Here, this'll help," Mehid tells Fiona. "It'll take longer than normal healing, but it'll also heal any other wounds you take."

"Thanks," Fiona tells him. "We all ready?"

"Yep. Let's go in." Tiffany says. Beorn unstealths and charges the door, shattering the flimsy lock.

Behind the door is a spiraling staircase, which the group goes down cautiously.

Tiffany stops near the bottom, signaling for a stop. Fiona stealths and sneaks into the room, analyzing the opponents, before returning.

She holds up two fingers to signal the number of opponents.

Beorn runs into the room and engages the attackers, distracting them from the entrance of the group. Tiffany and Salia take on the informant who'd called them to the palace gardens - ' _how'd he escape?_ ' Tiffany wonders - while Deborah, Fiona, and Mehid take on the 'man-in-charge' of the base.

After they had been defeated, the team spreads out over the room, checking bookcases and desks for clues.

"Tiffany! I found something!" Fiona says. "A list of names. Captain Thackeray, Countess Anise, and - "

"Let me guess, our names?" Deborah asks dryly. "Well, that's no surprise."

"Our names have a description - 'Hero of Shaemoor... child of the queen's  _spies_ '? Our parents were spies?"

"Grenth's teeth, it's a list of targets!" Mehid snarls. "Every name on there is one of the queen's staunch allies. If they managed to take them all out..."

"Well we won't let  _that_  happen," Tiffany says.

"We have to warn Captain Thackeray," Fiona nods. "He might be able to help us."

"Countess Anise has always known the White Mantle will be after her - she's the leader of the Shining Blade. But you're right, Captain Thackeray needs to know he's a target. Anise wouldn't like us sharing information so recklessly, but it's an emergency. This isn't the only White Mantle hideout, you know." Salia tells them.

"We'll finish gathering evidence and meet you back at Divinity's Reach. This is a major development."

"We'll see you there," Deborah tells them.

The trio waypoint back to Salma district.

"Whoa, that was short," Fiona exclaims.

"It was," Tiffany nods. "I'm glad we got it done in such a short time period."

"I had a crazy dream last night," Fiona tells Tiffany, as they stroll around the district.

"Oh yeah? What about?"

"Crazy things. It was a bit jumbled and confused, but Deborah was dead and it was fifteen years in the future."

"I was dead?" Deborah asks. "Some dream."

"You'd died like seven years ago, in the dream," Fiona tells her. "And - " she frowns, glancing at Tiffany. "Apparently, even  _really powerful_   _necromancers_ ," Fiona says with meaningful emphasis, glancing at Tiffany, "can't resurrect or anything after seven years, although why we'd wait that long is beyond me. Ehh, it was a dream. Dreams are crazy."

"Did you know, when sylvari dream it's how they learn, kinda?" Deborah tells them.

"How they learn?" Tiffany echoes, pretending to not know what Deborah is talking about.

"Yeah. When they're born, they're fully grown. And the Dream they have tells them how to do things like walk and talk. And some of them get this... well, they call it a Wyld Hunt, but it's basically their purpose in life."

"That's... weird," Tiffany says carefully. "Do they have any other dreams?"

"I don't think so."

"Even if we  _had_  been able to resurrect you, you probably would have been some sort of Risen. Oh, and Phillipe and all them were in it... a  _lot_."

Tiffany raises her eyebrow at Fiona. "That is a crazy dream."

"And Mat and Ayla were all grown up, and Ayla was an engineer."

"I can see that," Deborah nods. "She's the tinkering sort."

"Mat was an elementalist, and he really loved it."

"I can imagine," Tiffany snorts. "Was I in it?"

"Yeah, and Andrew and Petra. Captain Thackeray - we called him Logan in the dream though, it was crazy - and some of his old friends were in it, to. Nobody we know in real life, though."

Tiffany shoots a glance at Fiona, which Deborah doesn't see.

"You called him Logan? That's crazy," Deborah says. "That would be so weird."

"I know. It was a dream, though, and dreams are weird."

"Yep."

The trio walk in companionable silence for a while.

"We should be getting to Captain Thackeray's office to meet with Salia and Mehid, and tell him about the target list," Tiffany says a bit later. "I imagine the Salia and Mehid will be done collecting evidence by now."

The trio waypoint to the palace gardens and enter Captain Thackeray's office.

A loud argument stops them near the door.

"What were you thinking, bringing a civilian into this matter? Even...no, ESPECIALLY this one?" Countess Anise asks angrily of Salia.

"I apologize, Master Exemplar. It was necessary - " Salia responds.

"Enough. There are more urgent matters at hand. We'll discuss this matter later." Anise interrupts. Espying the trio near the door, she motions them over. "Hello, my dear. I see that two of my Exemplars have taken a liking to you. Most intriguing! I'd inquire further, but Captain Thackeray is waiting. You should speak with him first."

"Thank you, Countess. We'll do that," Fiona replies.

"You look grim, my friend. What's wrong?" the Captain inquires, having heard our conversation with the Countess.

"We've learned that the White Mantle has been trying to eliminate the queen's allies." Deborah reports.

"Not that that's a huge surprise, but it's more the individual targets that are worrying," Tiffany adds.

"Our names were on a list we found, and so was yours and the countess's, among others."

"The White Mantle?" the Captain says in surprise. We can't let those roaches continue to spread. I'll mobilize the Seraph and burn this cult to the ground!"

"Logan, no." Countess Anise says firmly. "You've been fighting centaurs for too long. The White Mantle are cunning, treacherous foes. They will predict your moves, outmaneuver you. However, the Shining Blade has been fighting them for a long time. We know the best way to deal with the Mantle: stealth and cunning."

"We need to move quickly." Mehid advises. "They probably know we're coming either way. Our friend has been invaluable so far. Perhaps the Hero of Shaemoor can offer some insight here?"

"They are good at eyeing things from an outsiders perspective," the Captain agrees. "So, how about it, my friend?"

"How, exactly, do you both propose to fight the White Mantle?" Fiona inquires curiously.

"We'll send an important official to Blackroot Cut, to lure them out. When they attack, we wipe them out."

"How is that different than invading their hideout, though?" Fiona probes.

"It gets them off their home ground and onto ours," Anise replies promptly. "If we fight them in their hideout, they know the lay of the land better than we do. However, the area of Sojourner's Way we will be luring from is well known to the Shining Blade, and the White Mantle only go there occasionally."

"That's a sound strategy," Tiffay muses. "How about your idea, Captain?"

"We'll take some Seraph with us to Blackroot Cut, where a White Mantle hideout is located. We'll burn the place to the ground, and escapees will be cut down. Simple and effective."

"Those are both two different locations," Deborah points out. "If we choose the wrong one, the other will still be free to maneuver."

"The Shining Blade and the Seraph both have manpower, we could split up," Fiona offers. "It's be even more unexpected than either a direct attack or bait, of which they are both probably expecting. Like you say, Countess, you've been fighting the White Mantle for years, they probably know your tactics. The Seraph are all over Kryta, and they have had ample time to observe them, as well. If we do both, it'll catch them off guard."

"Great idea, Fiona!" Tiffany tells her. "But, are your Seraph ready enough after fighting centaurs for a long time?"

"Enough are for this job," Captain Thackeray tells her. "Especially with Exemplars Mehid and Salia to back you up."

"Great. We know the area, we'll be there soon," Tiffany tells him.

"I'm looking forward to this, and not only because we're setting up the White Mantle." Mehid tells the trio. "I'm eager to see your combat skills again. You seem to be following in your parents' footsteps."

"Are we?" Fiona asks.

"From what the paper says - children of the queen's spies - I'd say so," Salia agrees. "Mehid and I are planning on researching your parents more. Since they worked for the throne, we'll surely find something."

"Thanks. It's appreciated," Deborah tells them. "Now, I believe we need to get to Sojourner's Way now."

"So do we. We're in on this operation, as well. Salia's assigned to go to Blackroot Cut, and I am with the Sojourner's Way operation." Mehid tells them.

"Great. We're headed to Black Haven," Tiffany informs them. "Let's go."

"I'm with Captain Thackeray," Deborah tells the group.

"I'll go with him, too," Tiffany agrees, smiling to herself.

"I suppose that means I'll be with the Shining Blade," Fiona shrugs. "I don't mind either way, just you do your thing."

"Great," Tiffany says, giving Fiona the thumbs-up.

Waypointing at Black Haven, the group splits. Fiona, Salia, and Mehid go north to Sojourner's Way, and Tiffany and Deborah go east to Blackroot Cut.

"Get into position, everyone. I'll approach, and when they make their move, you all rush in and spring the trap." the Captain instructs.

"Where do you want us?" Deborah asks.

"The ruins at the top of the hill should work," Tiffany suggests.

"Souns perfect," the Captain agrees.

Tiffany, Deborah, and the Seraph soldiers are barely in position when an officer of the White Mantle passes by.

"Well, Captain Thackeray! A long way from home, aren't we? I thought we saved you for last, but since you're here..."

Tiffany grins to herself again. ' _This is going to be so much more hilarious in real life..._ '

"Oh dear. Oh, mercy. The White Mantle is upon me. Woe! Lamentation! Is this the end for poor Logan?" the Captain says sarcastically.

"Are... are... are you mocking me?" the White Mantle officer questions in disbelief. "I don't think you understand how this works. White Mantle! Give the captain a demonstration."

"No, thanks. I think I already have a pretty good idea... Now!" Captain Thackeray responds.

The group hiding at the top of the hill scramble down over the low cliff.

"Stop them!" the officer cries to her underlings.

"White Mantle! Your cause is dead, and so are you!" the Captain declares as the White Mantle rush in on the group.

Tiffany puts aside her bow for this fight - her arrows could injure her allies, and she doesn't want that. Instead, she equips her axes and daggers, throwing them every which way. She loves how her axes perform their duty as boomerangs, returning, or, if she threw them right, bouncing into other White Mantle. Deborah deftly avoids the axes, occasionally knocking one away into another cultist as she dodges around another.

"Deborah, incoming!" Tiffany shouts, as she espies one of axes on a course with Deborah's back. Deborah spins in a half circle, decapitating anoter White Mantle cultist while Tiffany's axe cuts another's - the one who'd been dueling with Deborah - chest open, leaving him choking on his own blood.

Tiffany ducks under the blade of another cultist that had tried to cut her in two from behind, spinning and knocking the feet out from another another while stabbing the first one in the eye with a dagger, flinging an axe at the head of the one on the ground.

She stands up, twirling axes in her hands as she looks for another target. An arrow zings right by her head, nosing into the swampy ground in front of her. Tiffany nocks her own arrow to the bow and aims at the quivering foliage on the cliff. She sees a shadow cast on the ground in the area, and lining it up with the sun gives her a good idea of where the bowman is. She shoots, but the man seems to leap away from his position.

Tiffany snarls, and one of her axes snakes through the air in the area, cutting the foliage at waist level, and snicking the archers right hand, who had stood back from the bushes. Trailing blood, the cultists turns and runs into the ruins.

Turning her attention back to the fight before her, arrows thud into her enemies systematically, although some barely missing her allies, who moved into her arrows flight path one too many times for comfort.

"They just keep coming!" Deborah cries, weaving in and out between the White Mantle and leaving destruction in her wake.

"We'll have to keep it up," Tiffany replies. "No need to stop now, the White Mantle are too much of a threat."

"I hope Fiona's having better luck!"

"Let's hope so,"

"Alert!" comes a cry from atop a cliff. "The Shining Blade are decimating our hideout in Sojourner's Way!"

Tiffany spares a glance to the clifftop, where an exhausted cultist stands, dressed for scouting.

"They need reinforcements!"

"Well, so do we!" the officer who initiated the attack snarls. "Get down here an help me!" she cries, as Captain Thackeray engages her with fierce swordplay.

A dagger flashes into the scout's chest, and he falls with a surprised expression over the edge of the cliff, landing with a squishy  _thump_  in the marshy ground. Tiffany returns her attention to the group of three surrounding her.

"Never know when to stop, do you?" she snarks, spinning in place with an axe in each hand. The cultists, who are out of arm's reach, look at each other quizzically. Tiffany suddenly, out of the whirlwind of axes, a dagger thumps into the head of one cultist. The remaining two blanch and turn tail. Tiffany stops spinning, and more daggers cut their spinal cords.

Tiffany retrieves her knives and starts fighting the other cultists.

The Captain had finished the officer, and the White Mantle were thinning out, most of them fleeing. Tiffany catches a few cultists with her knives, but not all.

"You alright, Deborah?" Tiffany asks.

"I've got a few cuts, but I'll be fine."

"We should check up Fiona," Tiffany says. "Unless they've come to check on us?" she asks, as Countess Anise and Fiona come around the hill.

"Tiffany! Salia and Mehid found the 'last known residence' of our parents!" Fiona calls.

"Really? That's great!" Tiffany replies happily. "Dealt with your cultists? How'd the operation go?"

"Pretty well. One of their officers called me an idiot, and attacked me, and then we killed them all. And then Mehid told me they'd found the last place on record where our parents were!"

"That's great."

"You two did an astounding job," the Captain tells the trio. "I'll have to put up a commendation for bravery in my report."

"Thank you, Logan," Tiffany says. "I only hope we can discover our parents whereabouts."

Fiona freezes, not daring to look at Tiffany. ' _She called him_ Logan _,'_  Fiona thinks. ' _We're not supposed to be calling him Logan yet!'_  She doesn't say anything, however, knowing that would just draw more attention to it.

Tiffany feels Fiona tense up by her side, and realizes what she just said. She tries to keep her expression neutral.

The Captain doesn't seem to notice the slip-up, or the twins' reactions. "I know you'll be able to. In the time I've worked with you, I've been amazed at your inner strength and dedication. Trust yourself."

"T-that means a lot to me," Tiffany replies carefully. "At least the White Mantle have been subdued - for now, at least."

"Where did you get the information about our parents?" Deborah asks Mehid.

"I can't tell you everything, but the information came from the Shining Blade archives. Your parents worked for the Blade, and their records were filled with commendations."

"If they worked for the Shining Blade, why didn't agents of the Blade come and look for us? Didn't they know we existed, or...?" Tiffany asks in confusion.

"Your parents never told the Shining Blade about you. They wanted to retire and have normal lives. The Blade respected that and never checked in." Salia cuts in.

"Image how life might have turned out differently if we'd grown up together. We might have been Shining Blade, too." Fiona speculates.

"It would've been neat, watching you grow up," Salia says.

"I may have to find a way to get you into the Shining Blade, anyway," Anise tells us. "Whether you grew up with your parents or not, if you keep being so useful."

"Thank you for the compliment, ma'am." Deborah says delightedly. "But - "

"I fear you can't take one of the only survivors of Falcon Company, Countess," the Captain intervenes. "She's stuck in the Seraph."

"I'm afraid I am bound by the shackles of tradition, countess," Deborah says with a sorrowful bow. "My nights will be filled with fantasies of what it would be like as a member of the Shining Blade," she says dramatically.

"Don't tell me, sister," Tiffany laughs. "You're just glad of a very valid excuse to  _not_  join."

"You injure me," Deborah says with a pained expression.

"I think the reality is, she wouldn't mind joining the Shining Blade if she hadn't been a part of Falcon Company first, but since she has, she preferrs the Falcons over the Blade." Fiona intervenes.

"Why, how can you say such a thing?" Deborah cries. "I would much prefer to join the Shining Falcons or the Screaming Blades than one extreme or another."

"Now, that's a thought," Logan says. "A company that mixes the elite Seraph with the Shining Blade."

"You'd have to choose Shining Falcons or Screaming Blades, though?" Tiffany asks. "If you were going to have such a unit, you  _wouldn't_  want it known that it was a mix, and you'd have to invent a completely new name, or somebody eventually would figure it out."

"How about Blades of the Seraph?" Salia proposes. "It sounds like a unit that's affiliated with the Seraph, but more like just agents than any regular old patrol. And not affiliated with the Blade in any manner."

"This is all assuming that we are going to create such a unit in the first place," Anise intervenes. "Such an undertaking would require... time and effort, neither of which any of us have any to spare at the moment."

"The Countess is right," the Captain agrees. "Not to mention if either of us got into a disagreement, we'd have to resolve who has the higher authority without... a third party getting involved, as we would have equal ranking if we created such a squad."

"Maybe we can discuss this another time, then," Mehid proposes. "For example,  _not_  in the middle of a former battleground with corpses littering the area."

"Yeah. Where did you say the residence was located?" Fiona asks.

"South of the Delanian Foothills. Darkwound Waypoint."

"That's north of Garenhoff, that town to the southwest, right?" Captain Thackeray asks.

"Exactly. If you're there, you just run north up that path that leads to Blackroot Cut."

"I see," Tiffany replies. "We'll be there, Mehid, Salia."

"We'll meet you there after we're done debriefing." Salia tells them.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

Mwahahahaa.

No, the dream is  _not_  foreshadowing. I simply wanted to make you think I'd decided to skip all the juicy dragon-slaying, Destiny's-Edge-reforming, good-guys-dying so that I didn't have to write it all... but naw. I wouldn't do that. It was Fiona's idea to have it be a dream, though. I  _was_  just going to have it be a prank chapter, but making it a dream... and I just have to tell you it  _isn't_  foreshadowing, and the dream will never actually happen. It's just a dream. I called it 'Destiny's Edge' because it's fifteen years later, Eir didn't die, and so there was no reason to form Dragon's Watch. And  _everyone_  is in it. And it would trick you into thinking it was just another normal chapter. I'm weird.

So, Shadows From the Past storyline chapter is almost complete! Timeline, it'll take place today. Chapter-wise, it'll take place tomorrow (or whenever I post next chapter)

Sorry for taking so long to write this chapter... but I got sidetracked. I hope you like the description of the amulet!

And we  _finally_  get around to being able to call 'Captain Thackeray' 'Logan' for once! Even though Tiffany and Fiona don't realize it yet, in-game they actually do switch out 'Captain' for 'Logan', but they don't remember that... so we'll see how  _that_  turns out!

Oh, wow. See, I've got over a dozen fanfics that contain  _super_ long chapters that aren't done with the first chapter yet, and at the beginning of each one I'd have like three pages of author's notes. That's where I began the tradition of saying 'here's the story now' at the end, even though I haven't posted a single one. They're mostly about time-travel and are  _very, very,_ _ **very,**_ _ **very**_  out of character, just because I am terrible at writing anyone except Logan.

Review if you want me to post them (and be warned, they're all on hold for this story) as they are, with major modifications to the ANs. Because... honestly, I haven't got the slightest clue what half of them  _are_... umm, I believe they're mostly like this paragraph here, rambling about nothing in particular but also no reason to take it out...whatever.

So how'd you like the chapter? Review, please!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Mwahahahaa.
> 
> No, the dream is not foreshadowing. I simply wanted to make you think I'd decided to skip all the juicy dragon-slaying, Destiny's-Edge-reforming, good-guys-dying so that I didn't have to write it all... but naw. I wouldn't do that. It was Fiona's idea to have it be a dream, though. I was just going to have it be a prank chapter, but making it a dream... and I just have to tell you it isn't foreshadowing, and the dream will never actually happen. It's just a dream. I called it 'Destiny's Edge' because it's fifteen years later, Eir didn't die, and so there was no reason to form Dragon's Watch. And everyone is in it. And it would trick you into thinking it was just another normal chapter. I'm weird.
> 
> So, Shadows From the Past storyline chapter is almost complete!
> 
> Sorry for taking so long to write this chapter... but I got sidetracked. I hope you like the description of the amulet!
> 
> And we finally get around to being able to call 'Captain Thackeray' 'Logan' for once! Even though Tiffany and Fiona don't realize it yet, in-game they actually do switch out 'Captain' for 'Logan', but they don't remember that... so we'll see how that turns out!
> 
> Oh, wow. See, I've got over a dozen fanfics that contain super long chapters that aren't done with the first chapter yet, and at the beginning of each one I'd have like three pages of author's notes. That's where I began the tradition of saying 'here's the story now' at the end, even though I haven't posted a single one. They're mostly about time-travel and are very, very, very, very out of character, just because I am terrible at writing anyone except Logan.
> 
> Review if you want me to post them (and be warned, they're all on hold for this story) as they are, with major modifications to the ANs. Because... honestly, I haven't got the slightest clue what half of them are... umm, I believe they're mostly like this paragraph here, rambling about nothing in particular but also no reason to take it out...whatever.
> 
> So how'd you like the chapter? Review, please!


	14. Deceased Relations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tassof sisters discover their parents last known place of residence. Tiffany charms a new pet, and Petra and Andrew fall into the normal procedure when it arrives home. Tiffany, Fiona, and Deborah learn their parents names and history.

"Let's get moving, Fiona," Tiffany tells her sister. "According to the directions Mehid gave us, we need to go east of Black Haven into Blackroot Cut, and then go south, following the path. From what I remember of the map, the path is sandwiched between mountains, so we shouldn't get sidetracked."

"Best chance at guessing our way to a personal story chapter," Fiona snorts as the pair begin their hike southward.

"So, how about that 'Logan' slip-up earlier?" Tiffany asks grimly.

"He didn't seem to react at all," Fiona observes.

"If I remember correctly," Tiffany says slowly, "we start calling him Logan around the level twenty quest, which... well, normally when I create a character it's the dead sister, but we resolved that mostly without Logan's involvement, due to not interrogating various former Screaming Falcons and Tervelan. I do hope he gets found out. Anyway, but - hey, this  _would_  have been the level twenty quest!" she realizes.

"So we  _are_  on track to be calling him Logan, now?" Fiona asks.

"We should be... but... it's real life now. In Guild Wars, he didn't react to us suddenly switching. Life, on the other hand, is rather different. And while it makes sense to start calling him by his first name once we've fought side-by-side with him a bit, it's still a bit... off."

"I know what you mean."

"You weren't in Blackroot Cut," Tiffany ponders. "It might make more sense if I begin calling him by his first name for a bit, and you haven't fought by his side as much as I have, so you try not to, but you get pulled in by force of habit anyway. And... Fi, why are we debating when exactly we should start calling him Logan? The time's passed up when our characters in-game would have, we'll just call him whatever feels natural. If it's suddenly natural to call him Captain now, then we'll call him Captain. If we still get the urge to call him Logan, we'll call him Logan. But it's not a strategy game and we'll fail miserably if we get the timing wrong - it's simply a matter if he thinks we're rather odd or not. The sort of thing like which name to call someone isn't thought over as much as we have been!"

"Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. It's not like he'd start thinking we're evil dragon minions if we suddenly start calling him Logan too soon, or anything like that. I mean everyone's different, and we're not even Seraph. People who aren't Seraph but work closely with the Seraph - or any organization - get to calling the people they work with by their first name sooner or later, unless they're under hire or something."

"Yeah, that makes sense. We'll just not worry about it."

"At least we won't have this problem with the rest of Destiny's Edge, or anything." Fiona points out.

"That's great," Tiffany agrees. "And it won't be a problem with Trahearne, either - we meet him  _before_  he has anything for us to be calling besides Trahearne."

"We could always call him 'Firstborn' every time we see him," Fiona teases.

Tiffany starts laughing. "You're weird,"

Fiona joins in the chorus "...but no weirder than I am."

"How'd you do that?" Tiffany asks.

"You say that every time you call someone weird, Tiff."

"It's true! I'm the weirdest person in... well, the weirdest person on Earth. I've probably lost  _that_  title since we're in Tyria now... there's people like the Nightmare Court and the Inquest who're weirder than I am, probably. Oh, and the Sons of Svanir. Worshipping a  _dragon_ , really?"

"Well, it's probably so the dragon doesn't eat them, in which case, it's very sensible indeed."

"Not if you can kill the dragon. We'll see. Before we kill Jormag we'll tell all the Sons, 'hey, we're killing your dragon, want to help? Then you won't have to worship an evil being!'"

"You're being sarcastic, right?" Fiona asks.

"Not at all," Tiffany says flatly. "I died last time I did this because I didn't have enough people, and Svanir's Sons didn't know I was trying to kill their dragon."

"Really?"

"No, of course I'm being sarcastic, you ninnyhead," Tiffany says, rolling her eyes and cuffing Fiona. "People will buy anything if it's said with a straight enough face."

"You quoted Granny," Fiona accuses.

"Yeah, so?"

"So... so  _waa_." Fiona says petulantly.

" _Waa_  you," Tiffany retorts. "We're here now, so tush-pu until further notice."

* * *

"Is this the place?" Fiona asks Mehid and Salia.

"It is. Watch your step, though. When we scouted around earlier, it looked like someone or something had moved in." Mehid advises.

"Countess Anise asked us not to say more than necessary, as this is technically a royal matter, but I think you deserve what truth we can give you." Salia begins. "Your parents were spies for the last King of Kryta, Jennah's father. They helped track and destroy White Mantle cells, saving many lives in the process."

"Our parents?" Fiona says in awe.

"Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?" Deborah calls from behind them.

"Nothing, except that our parents were spies for Jennah's father and were the bane of the White Mantle," Tiffany replies. "Nothing important, just typical Shining Blade-style discoveries."

"Tiff," Fiona groans, cuffing Tiffany. "So this was their house?" she asks.

"Yes. The last message on file from your parents states that they feared White Mantle cultists had discovered their secret. They were planning to flee." Mehid replies.

"The Shining Blade lost contact with them after that. Either they fled to safety, or..." Salia trails off meaningfully.

"Either way, we have to know. Let's go inside. If there are clues to be found, we'll find them here." Deborah tells the group. "Let's get moving."

Near the house, Mehid holds up a hand, signaling stop. "Stay alert. I see ettin signs everywhere, but no ettins."

"Something's definitely not right. The ettins were here last time."

"They're probably hiding," Tiffany cautions.

"Ettins incoming!" Deborah calls from the back of the group.

"I knew they couldn't stay hidden for long," Salia declares, running forward.

"Ettins. They're probably a lot like trolls, with thick skin and probably magic-resistant," Fiona mutters. "Here, take a sword," she says, handing one to Tiffany. "You got that magical 'enhance damage' utility skill?"

"Naw. I need to infuse myself with power - from a hero point prolly - to do that," Tiffany replies under her breath.

The two girls rush forwards, both carrying swords.

Three ettins vs. five sword-bearing soldiers is never a fair fight, especially not when two are Shining Blade, one is a former Screaming Falcon  _and_  a Tassof girl, along with two other Tassof girls. However, ettins aren't that bright, either, so they stay and fight. Of course, they're defeated rather quickly.

As the group approaches the house cautiously, many spiders scuttle out of shady places.

"The faster we wipe these vermin out, the sooner we'll find what we came for," Salia declares.

"Pull them into a small area, me and Fiona can deal with them," Tiffany tells them. "Oh, look, here's a little one! Can I take it home with me?"

"Sure, if you don't have one like it already." Fiona says offhandedly.

Tiffany, relying on memory, discharges some of her energy into the small animal, which binds it to her, before Side-Along Waypointing it to Salma. She directs the spider to Andrew's inn, before popping back to Darkwound Defile and assisting with the slaying of the rest of the spiders.

While the group is fighting their way through spiders in the abandoned house, a little spider skitters into Andrew's tavern.

"It's a - " Petra yells, before calming. "Andrew, Tiffany sent us another pet," she calls.

"What is it this time?" echoes Andrew's voice from down in the cellar.

"It's a big spider," Petra replies. "Want to come run the test?"

"Coming," Andrew says, appearing in the doorway with a small device in his hand. He places the device around the spider's neck, scanning it for magical energy. "Yeah, Tiffany's labeled it as hers. I'll take it up to her room."

He leads the spider up to Tiffany's room, and into the large cage she constructed to hold pets she found, back when she was always traveling to Ebonhawke. It'd just been so long since Tiffany had sent a new companion along in this manner.

* * *

"Alright, let's explore this house," Tiffany declares.

"Look, Tiff - gravestones," Deborah says in a slightly choked voice.

Kneeling by the smaller gravestone, Tiffany rubs her finger over the place where a name would normally be, trying to get the dust off. Faint markings are outlined in the cold marble, but none legible. Neither can she read the name on the other.

"No names?" Deborah asks.

"Not that I can make out," Tiffany says in a voice devoid of emotion. "But the inscription is still readable - barely. This one says..." she squints at the gravestone. "Th... three joys gave his life meaning... his wife, his country, and above all, his children... May the gods bless and protect Deborah, Tiffany, and Fiona."

Deborah is inspecting the other gravestone. "This one says 'Cherished Wife, Devoted Mother, Loyal Servant of Kryta. 'Our life's labor was to make a better world for the children to live in. May our own beloved children find it so.''"

"You sure you can't make out the names?" Fiona whispers in a choked voice.

"Yes. I... the names must have faded. But why didn't the inscriptions?" Tiffany says, her voice wobbling slightly.

"Magical protections?" Deborah offers weakly. "But why not on both?"

"Their names were Icaro and Maria Sereno," Salia says softly.

"Icaro and Maria," Tiffany says softly. "Those are nice names. The last name was Sereno?"

"Yes," Mehid confirms. "It seems the White Mantle found them, after all. I'm sorry."

"I... we'd always hoped they were still out there," Tiffany says hopelessly.

"That must be a hard dream to give up," Salia says, joining them by the gravestones. "At least now you know, though."

"Yes. At least now we know," Deborah says.

"They gave their lives to defend Kryta against one of its oldest, greatest enemies. I'm sure they'd be proud of you." Mehid adds.

"Who placed the gravestones?" Fiona asks.

"Friends, perhaps? Fellow agents? We may never know. It was likely the same people who rescued you and took you to safety in Divinity's Reach." Salia tells them.

Tiffany frowns. "Since this investigation started, I thought they'd brought us to Divinity's Reach themselves, since they knew they were in danger, perhaps intending to come find us once the danger had passed."

"That may be what happened. We may never know," Mehid repeats.

"Thank you both for finding this place, for telling us as much as you could," Tiffany tells them.

"All our lives we've been wondering," Fiona adds.

"My friend, this was never just another mission. Helping you with this has been our pleasure, believe me." Mehid assures them.

"If the rest of the Shining Blade files on your parents become declassified, or if any information surfaces about these gravestones, we'll contact you." Mehid tells the trio.

"We'd be very grateful," Deborah tells him, standing up.

"I think your parents would be very proud," Salia tells them.

"That... that's a generous thing for you to say," Tiffany tells her. "If you're ever off-duty, stop by Andrew's tavern in Salma District and say hello. We may not be there, off on adventures, but our adoptive parents, Andrew and Petra, would be happy to see you."

"You wouldn't mind? I mean... yes, I'd like that very much," Salia tells them.

"Of course. Thanks for all your help, and take care of yourselves out there," Fiona tells the exemplars.

"You too," Salia replies. "We'll leave you to pay your respects to the fallen."

She and Mehid quietly leave while the three sisters sit around the gravestones for a while in silence.

One by one, they waypoint home.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

How do you like it?

Review if you caught the reference! If you caught it, you know what I'm talking about.

Salia's last line is weird because  _somebody_  put on sad music and so I was extra-eloquent when I wrote those lines.

I'd always wondered why Salia and Mehid couldn't tell their names, they discovered a lot more about them, and these are their children. Sure, their names are probably classified information, but... it's their children, I mean really? It's not like they're White Mantle. And you told them other stuff.

I hope you like the names I decided to use for their parents!

Anyway, this is the last chapter of  _Book One: Tyria's Real!_. Look for  _Book Two: Soldiers, Scholars and Spies_ to continue the story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you like it?
> 
> Review if you caught the reference! If you caught it, you know what I'm talking about.
> 
> I'd always wondered why Salia and Mehid couldn't tell their names, they discovered a lot more about them, and these are their children. Sure, their names are probably classified information, but... it's their children, I mean really? It's not like they're White Mantle. And you told them other stuff.
> 
> I hope you like the names I decided to use for their parents!
> 
> Anyway, this is the last chapter of _Book One: Tyria's Real!_. Look for _Book Two: Soldiers, Scholars and Spies_ to continue the story!

**Author's Note:**

> How do you like it? Tell me! Tell me! I like feedback.  
> Is it too short, too detailed, did I make somebody out of character, do you like the idea of us making friends with Ayla and Mat, do you like...  
> I've never liked cliffhangers, so I'll put in as few of those as I possibly can. I don't plan the chapter endings, I end it when I don't know how to describe what happened next.  
> Anyway. I hope you like it, and don't forget to like and/or follow the story when you send off your review!  
> And, I spent a whole lot of extra time adding in the formatting for all the _slanted_ words! I'm used to hitting ctrl+I for that, and my backup save likes that! (But this fanfiction community is a lot more developed than FFN's, so it's worth it.)


End file.
